A Conceptual Analysis of PayAsYouEarn PAYE - PDF document

1 A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn
A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) Withholding Systems as a Mechanism for Simplifying and Improving U.S. Tax Administration A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) Withholding Systems as a Mechanism for Simplifying and Improving U.S. Tax Administration Volume 2 TAS Research and Related Studies TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 2 A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) Withholding Systems as a Mechanism for Simplifying and Improving U.S. Tax Administration EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION 6 The Concept of PAYE Is Distinct From the Issue of How and When Income and Deductions Are Reported ................................................................... 6 PAYE Focuses on the Issue of Tax Collection ........................................... 6 Exact Withholding, Which Is the Ideal Form of PAYE, Requires Real-Time Reporting 7 Comprehensive PAYE Systems Require Some Compromises, But Provide Many Benets to Taxpayers and Tax Authorities ...................................................... 7 The Simple PAYE System Applied in the U Has a Number of Shortcomings ................. 7 Quality Tax Administration Would Be Enhanced by a Comprehensive PAYE System ............ 9 A Comprehensive PAYE Regime Would Particularly Benet Taxpayers ....................... 9 PAYE SYSTEMS INCORPORATE VARIOUS GOALS AND APPROACHES 11 Simple Withholding Is the Version of PAYE Used Within the U ......................... 11 Exact Withholding Seeks to Collect Complete Tax Liability by the End of the Year 11 Final Withholding Relies on Reconciling Adjustments Made to Year-End Paychecks 12 PAYE SYSTEMS, EVEN THOSE INVOLVING EXACT WITHHOLDING, ARE DIFFERENT FROM TAX AGENCY RECONCILIATIONS 13 THE U.S. CAN LEARN MUCH FROM THE EXPERIENCES OF OTHER COUNTRIES WITH PAYE SYSTEMS 15 Countries Choosing to Offer Some Form of Return-Free Filing Generally Do So In Combination With PAYE Collection Mechanisms ...................................... 15 The U Employs One of the Most Comprehensive PAYE Systems in the World .............. 15 Several Tax Authorities Have Taken Steps to Employ Various Types of PAYE ................. 18 EXPANDED USE OF PAYE IN THE U.S. COULD BRING MANY BENEFITS .................... 21 PAYE LENDS ITSELF TO INCREMENTAL APPLICATION ................................... 24 A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF U.S. TAX RETURNS ILLUSTRATES POTENTIAL COVERAGE POINTS ALONG THE PAYE SPECTRUM 25 PAYE Can Be Expanded to Collect Tax From a Wide Range of Income Sources ............... 25 A Comprehensive PAYE System Can Be Created to the Extent That Deductions and Credits Can Also Be Factored Into the Ongoing Tax Collection Regime ........................... 27 Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 3 SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPREHENSIVE PAYE SYSTEM IS FEASIBLE, BUT REQUIRES THAT A NUMBER OF PROCEDURAL AND CULTURAL OBSTACLES BE ADDRESSED AND OVERCOME 30 When Expanding PAYE, Some Systemic Features of the U Tax Regime Could Be Utilized, But Many Would Need to Be Adjusted 30 Information Reporting Mechanisms Already Exist With Respect to the Primary Income Types 30 Expanded Withholding Requirements Would Impose Burdens on Impacted Withholding Agents 30 Cove

2 rage of Independent Contractors Within t
rage of Independent Contractors Within the PAYE System Would Represent a Signicant Step Along the Comprehensiveness Spectrum ............................. 30 The Ability to Administer Refundable Credits in Conjunction With the PAYE System Would Substantially Broaden Its Potential Scope 32 Real-Time Reporting Is an Essential Aspect of Any Comprehensive PAYE System .......... 33 Use of a PAYE Code Facilitates the Efciency of PAYE Regimes 34 Equally Important as the Technical Ability to Implement PAYE Is Taxpayers’ Willingness to Accept It ...................................................................... 34 Taxpayers May Find the Expanded Responsibility of the IRS Under a PAYE System to Be Disconcerting ............................................................ 34 Sharing Additional Personal Information With Employers Could Raise Signicant Privacy Concerns ............................................................ 35 Taxpayers Are Often Unwilling or Unable to Interact With the IRS on an Ongoing Basis .... 35 Tax Refunds, Which Would Be Minimized by PAYE, Are Highly Valued by Many Taxpayers and Impact Local and National Economies 36 CONCLUSION 37 RECOMMENDATIONS 38 TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) systems are designed to collect the correct amount of tax throughout the course of the year as taxpayers earn the associated income The U has a simple PAYE system, which applies withholding predominantly on wage income By contrast, other countries, such as the United Kingdom (U) and New Zealand, have a broader PAYE system collecting tax on a range of payments beyond simple wages The U has been so successful at this expansion that approximately two-thirds of British taxpayers end each year having already fully and accurately satised their tax liabilities This study considers the benets and burdens of an expanded PAYE system within the U and the challenges that would need to be addressed in order for this expansion to occur Both taxpayers and the IRS would benet from a broader PAYE system From the perspective of taxpayers, an expanded PAYE tax system combined with real-time adjustments based on taxpayers’ changing circumstances would allow for a much more accurate collection of tax liabilities at source throughout the course of the year In theory, by year end, most taxpayers would be neither over-withheld nor under-withheld and would have enjoyed the benets of this relative certainty during the entire year Moreover, the overall reporting and payment system would be simplied and the possibility of unintentional errors reduced An expanded PAYE also would streamline and improve tax administration As the liabilities of most taxpayers would be determined and collected in real time, the IRS would be spared the resource burdens inherent in after-the-fact collection endeavors Moreover, they would be obtaining the tax remittances and much of the relevant information from third parties, thereby substantially reducing opportunities for intentional noncompliance In tax year (TY) 2016, 45 percent of nonitemizing lings reported wage earnings subject to withholding as the sole source of income Thus, even simple PAYE allows for complete withholding of tax at source for these approximately 59 million lings W

3 ith a variety of withholding adjustments
ith a variety of withholding adjustments, some involving a greater or lesser degree of difculty, PAYE tax collection could be extended to seven of the primary income sources, covering 62 percent of tax returns These income sources and the possible progression are as follows: FIGURE 1.1, Cumulative Buildup of PAYE Income Items, Tax Year 2016 Data Income type(s) Number of nonitemizing tax returns Incremental addition Percentage of nonitemizing returns Percentage of all tax returns Wage only 59,300,000 59,300,000 45% 40% Wage and/or interest 65,600,000 +6,300,000 50% 45% Wage, interest, and/or pension 71,000,000 +5,300,000 54% 48% Wage, interest, pension, and/or dividends 73,400,000 +2,500,000 56% 50% Wage, interest, pension, dividends, and/or capital gains 78,900,000 +5,500,000 60% 54% Wage, interest, pension, dividends, capital gains, and/or IRA 87,100,000 +8,200,000 66% 59% Wage, interest, pension, dividends, capital gains, IRA, and/or unemployment 90,700,000 +3,600,000 69% 62% Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 5 Additionally, for a comprehensive PAYE system to provide relatively accurate levels of withholding, that system must properly account for frequently occurring deductions and credits Such is particularly the case if the PAYE system is ever to form the basis of a return-free ling regime for substantial numbers of taxpayers The inclusion of these tax benet items, particularly refundable credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), is easier said than done However, a comprehensive real-time PAYE system that included the above income types along with the seven most popular deductions and credits would cover 51 percent of tax returns More modestly, a PAYE system incorporating only wage, interest, pension, and dividend income and solely the standard deduction would still achieve relatively accurate annual withholding for 26 percent of tax returns Regardless of the income, deduction, and credit items ultimately included, substantial PAYE coverage in the U will require that signicant procedural and cultural obstacles be confronted and overcome Specically, when expanding PAYE, some systemic features of the U tax regime could be utilized, but many would need to be adjusted Among other things: Information reporting mechanisms already exist with respect to the primary income types, which could be leveraged in a PAYE system Expanded withholding requirements would impose burdens on impacted withholding agents These burdens would need to be minimized and potentially subsidized Coverage of independent contractors within the PAYE system would represent a signicant step along the comprehensiveness spectrum The ability to administer refundable credits, such as the EITC and the CTC, in conjunction with a PAYE system also would substantially broaden its potential scope Nevertheless, the scale of systemic and cultural changes needed to accommodate these credits as part of, or alongside, PAYE, cannot be overstated More robust real-time reporting is an essential aspect of any comprehensive PAYE system Use of a PAYE code facilitates the efciency of PAYE regimes Equally important as the technical ability to implement PAYE is taxpayers’ willingness to accept it Among other things: Taxpayers may nd the expanded responsibility of the IRS under a PAYE

4 system to be disconcerting Sharing addi
system to be disconcerting Sharing additional personal information with employers could raise signicant privacy concerns Taxpayers are often unwilling or unable to interact with the IRS on an ongoing basis Tax refunds, which would be minimized by PAYE, are highly valued by many taxpayers and impact local and national economies To the extent that these technical and cultural issues can be accommodated, either in whole or in part, both U taxpayers and the IRS have much to gain from an expanded PAYE system As a result, the National Taxpayer Advocate recommends that the IRS and Treasury collaborate with TAS to: Study the feasibility of, and options for, establishing a real-time comprehensive PAYE system The study should focus rst on applying such a system to income attributable to wages, interest, pensions, and dividends, and the standard deduction, which would cover approximately 26 percent of tax returns, and should consider the incremental costs and benets of adding each category to a real-time comprehensive PAYE system The study should then analyze such an TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 6 expansion as it would apply to all 14 income, deduction, and credit categories described in more detail below, which would cover 51 percent of tax returns; and Conduct a public opinion survey examining the receptivity of potentially impacted taxpayers to a real-time comprehensive PAYE system, the changes in behavior it would require, and the results it would generate INTRODUCTION 1 The Concept of PAYE Is Distinct From the Issue of How and When Income and Deductions Are Reported The United States traditionally has employed a voluntary tax compliance system 2 A central aspect of this system involves the timing and the methodology governing the collection of information applicable to the calculation of tax liabilities, and the provision of that information to taxpayers and the IRS 3 A number of proposals and studies have been advanced by stakeholders, legislators, and commentators with the goal of streamlining and improving this information reporting process 4 These efforts have generated recommendations with diverging details and varying names, ranging from Simple Return to Autoll to Return-Free Filing 5 Various studies have estimated, depending on their parameters and assumptions, that between 8 million and 63 million taxpayers could feasibly be exempted from the obligation to le year-end tax returns 6 PAYE Focuses on the Issue of Tax Collection Separate from the question of information reporting, however, is the conundrum of how and when tax liabilities will be collected 7 Toward that end, tax systems around the world typically combine year-end reconciliation payments with more or less robust PAYE mechanisms for collecting revenue 8 This study discusses various PAYE systems, the potential benets and burdens they present, and the opportunities and challenges relating to the adoption of a comprehensive PAYE system As will be discussed below, the potential reach of such a system has been expanded as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 9 1 The principal authors of this study are Michael Baillif, Attorney Advisor, and Fran Cappelletti, Research Analyst. 2 Jonathan Barry Forman and Roberta Mann, Making the Internal Revenue Service Work , 17 LA. TAX REV . 725, 748-751 (2015). 3 National Taxpayer Advocate 2

5 015 Annual Report to Congress 45-55; Nat
015 Annual Report to Congress 45-55; National Taxpayer Advocate 2015 Annual Report to Congress 56-63; National Taxpayer Advocate 2011 Annual Report to Congress vol. 2, 146-150; Jonathan Barry Forman and Roberta Mann, Making the Internal Revenue Service Work , 17 LA. TAX REV . 725, 752 (2015). 4 National Taxpayer Advocate 2013 Annual Report to Congress vol. 2, 68-96; Joseph Bankman, Simple Filing for Average Citizens: The California Ready Return , AX NES 1431, 1434 (June 13, 2005). 5 Austan Goolsbee, The Simple Return: Reducing America’s Tax Burden Through Return-Free Filing , The Hamilton Project 5 (July 2006) http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/the_simple_return_reducing_americas_tax_burden_through_return-free_ fil ; Autofill Act of 2015, H.R. 1750, 114th Congress; Tax Filing Simplification Act of 2016, S. 2789, 114th Congress; Staff of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Tax Maze 4-5 (2016), http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/Tax_Maze_Report.pdf . 6 Department of the Treasury, Report to the Congress on Return-Free Tax Systems: Tax Simplification is a Prerequisite 16 (Dec. 2003). 7 William G. Gale, Remove the Return, in Toward Tax Reform: Recs. for Obama’s Task Force 40, 41 (Tax Analysts, 2009); William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What Is Return-Free Filing and How Would It Work? Briefing Book, Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-it-return-free-filing-and-how-would-it-work (last visited June 5, 2017). 8 Koenraad van der Heeden, The Pay-As-You-Earn Tax on Wages, Tax Law Design and Drafting vol. 2, 5 (Victor Thuronyi, ed., International Monetary Fund 1998); William G. Gale and Janet Holtzblatt, On the Possibility of a No-Return Tax System , NATL. AX J. 475, 476 (1997). 9 H.R. 1, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Pub. Law No. 115-97, 131 Stat. 2054 (Dec. 22, 2017). Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 7 Exact Withholding, Which Is the Ideal Form of PAYE, Requires Real-Time Reporting The gold standard for PAYE systems is for them to collect the precise amount of tax owed by taxpayers during the year This is known as exact withholding and means that at year end taxpayers will neither have a tax liability requiring the additional payment of tax nor a tax overpayment requiring the ling of a refund claim Exact withholding, however, and therefore the implementation of a successful comprehensive PAYE system, requires timely and accurate information reporting by employers and institutions paying income, and by taxpayers experiencing status changes that impact their available deductions and credits An example of this real-time reporting, which has now been embraced in the , involves, among other things, integrated payroll systems that simultaneously process payroll and provide information reporting to the tax authorities 10 Given the goal of exact withholding, and the crucial importance of real-time reporting in achieving it, the term “comprehensive PAYE system,” used herein, encompasses those concepts Comprehensive PAYE Systems Require Some Compromises, But Provide Many Benets to Taxpayers and Tax Authorities Generally, the broader the system for calculating and collecting tax as amounts are earned, the narrower and less intrusive are the requirements for reconciling and paying tax at year end, because more taxpayers receive the benet of exact withholding 11 For e

6 xample, the U applies a widespread with
xample, the U applies a widespread withholding tax on wage income, royalties, and pensions, while also exempting from taxation certain other categories of income, such as capital gains under an £11,700 threshold and dividends under a £5,000 threshold, that do not easily lend themselves to a PAYE system of tax collection 12 Because of this ongoing systemic effort to withhold the correct amounts of tax liability, approximately two-thirds of British taxpayers end each year having already fully and accurately satised their tax liabilities 13 As is also the case in the U, such comprehensive PAYE systems can then, if desired, be coupled with a less arduous year-end reporting regime, or even a return-free environment for those groups of taxpayers whose situations are straightforward enough that they require no year-end tax reconciliation 14 The Simple PAYE System Applied in the U.S. Has a Number of Shortcomings By contrast, the U applies a simple PAYE system that focuses on employer withholding against wage income The withholding is undertaken at a standard rate throughout the year, regardless of external changes impacting tax liability, unless the taxpayer takes afrmative steps to adjust amounts being 10 Jessica Winch, Q &A: Why Your PAYE is Switching to ‘Real Time,’ ELEGAPH (Apr. 5, 2013), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ personalfinance/tax/9973700/QandA-Why-your-PAYE-tax-is-changing-to-real-time.html ; David Gauke, PAYE Story , AX (Sept. 21, 2011), http://www.taxation.co.uk/taxation/Articles/2011/09/21/29571/paye-story . See also National Taxpayer Advocate 2013 Annual Report to Congress vol. 2 83-93. 11 William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What are the Benefits? Briefing Book, Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/ briefing-book/what-are-benefits-return-free-filing (last visited June 5, 2017); William G. Gale and Janet Holtzblatt, On the Possibility of a No-Return Tax System, . TAX J. 475, 476 (1997); William J. Turnier and Scott L. Little Is It Time for an American PAYE? 103 AX NES 559, 565-566 (May 3, 2004). 12 Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Capital Gains Tax https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/print (last visited Nov. 19, 2018); HMRC, Dividends Allowance Factsheet (Aug. 17, 2015) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ dividend-allowance-factsheet/dividend-allowance-factsheet . See also International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD), United Kingdom - Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Jan. 1, 2017) 1.3.3, Pension Income ; 1.10.3, Withholding taxes . 13 Louise Eccles, Millions are Unnecessarily Filling in Tax Returns: Quarter of Those Filing Forms Owe Less than £50 or Nothing at All , AILY MAIL (June 15, 2015), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3125675/Millions-needlessly-filling-tax-returns- Quarter-completing-forms-owe-50-all.html . See also William J. Turnier, PAYE as an Alternative to an Alternative Tax System , 23 . TAX REV . 205, 212 (Summer 2003). 14 William G. Gale, Remove the Return, in Toward Tax Reform: Recs. for Obama’s Task Force 40, 41 (Tax Analysts, 2009). TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 8 withheld 15 Thereafter, taxpayers calculate and report their nal tax liability at year end 16 They are then entitled to a tax refund or subject to a tax liability, depending on the result of th

7 e calculations The approach currently fo
e calculations The approach currently followed in the U inevitably possesses a variety of systemic aws For taxpayers, the uncertainty and retrospective nature of a limited PAYE system stand as barriers to compliance 17 Although simplicity can be substantially increased through a variety of approaches that would reduce reporting burdens, these reforms would not necessarily address the problem that taxpayers are often required to pay tax well after the fact with money they may no longer have 18 A regime employing only limited PAYE taxation also presents the IRS with the fundamental challenge of eventually collecting any remaining tax liability This reality helps contribute to an annual underpayment tax gap of approximately $46 billion between the amounts owing from individual taxpayers and the amounts that are ultimately received by the IRS 19 Additionally, this system currently generates back-loaded administrative expenditures dedicated, in part, to substantial tax compliance and collection activities Further, a system that contemplates the large-scale reconciliation of tax obligations after year end inevitably generates substantial refund activity For tax year 2016, the IRS received 116 million tax returns claiming over $416 billion in refunds 20 Simply processing these returns, answering associated inquiries, and issuing the refunds themselves account for a signicant portion of IRS resources In turn, this refund activity also raises the possibility of some unscrupulous taxpayers, return preparers, and identity thieves seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of the federal government For example, the IRS has reported that, as of May 6, 2017, it identied 195,941 tax returns with $21 billion claimed in fraudulent refunds 21 The danger of tax fraud is legitimate, and the IRS must, as a result, devote signicant resources to combatting it The IRS’s sometimes indiscriminate efforts in this regard, however, have resulted in considerable and unnecessary hardship for legitimate taxpayers, as can be seen 15 Koenraad van der Heeden, The Pay-As-You-Earn Tax on Wages, Tax Law Design and Drafting vol. 2, 4 (Victor Thuronyi, ed., Int’l Monetary Fund 1998). 16 Joseph Bankman, Using Technology to Simplify Filing , 61 IOAL TAX JOURNAL 773, 774 (Dec. 2008). 17 Jonathan Barry Forman and Roberta Mann, Making the Internal Revenue Service Work , 17 LA. TAX REV . 725, 774 (2015). 18 The majority of taxpayers actually overpay their taxes during the year, but the number of taxpayers with amounts due and owing remains significant. 19 IRS, IRS Releases New Tax Gap Estimates; Compliance Rates Remain Statistically Unchanged From Previous Study (Jan. 6, 2012), https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-new-tax-gap-estimates-compliance-rates-remain-statistically-unchanged- from-previous-study . As noted by the IRS, “Overall, compliance is highest where there is third-party information reporting and/or withholding. For example, most wages and salaries are reported by employers to the IRS on Forms W-2 and are subject to withholding. As a result, a net of only 1 percent of wage and salary income was misreported. But amounts subject to little or no information reporting had a 56 percent net misreporting rate in 2006.” Accordingly, a broader application of PAYE, which included both an information reporting and tax collection component, likely would redu

8 ce the underreporting and underpayment
ce the underreporting and underpayment tax gaps, and perhaps the non-filing tax gap as well, thereby decreasing the cumulative tax gap of approximately $385 billion. 20 IRS, Individual Returns Transaction File (IRTF), Compliance Data Warehouse (CDW), individual returns for tax year (TY) 2016, data accessed Oct. 19, 2018. 21 Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), Ref. No. 2018-40-012, Results of the 2017 Filing Season 21-22 (Jan. 31, 2018). Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 9 in areas such as identity theft and Form 1042-S refunds 22 For example, the false positive rate for the IRS’s identity theft lter was 62 percent when last measured at the end of September 2018 23 Quality Tax Administration Would Be Enhanced by a Comprehensive PAYE System No method of revenue collection is a panacea for the challenges confronted by a tax regime Efforts to reduce the tax gap, enforce the revenue laws, and limit tax fraud will always be required to some degree Nevertheless, a comprehensive PAYE system, to the extent that it proves viable, could substantially minimize the problems presented by after-the-fact revenue collection 24 By signicantly limiting the amount of refund payments, and by looking to and collecting from third parties, such a system would reduce the opportunities for, and attractiveness of, tax fraud, while making the revenue easier to collect in the rst instance 25 A Comprehensive PAYE Regime Would Particularly Benet Taxpayers From a taxpayer perspective, a comprehensive PAYE system would reduce the burden that accompanies the sometimes confusing and overwhelming annual reporting generally required of wage earners 26 It would also substantially minimize the number and impact of reporting errors made by good-faith taxpayers, as many of the calculation and remittance duties would be undertaken by employers or other third parties Specically, the types of errors typically caught by the IRS’s Automated Underreporter (AUR) program would be greatly reduced Some taxpayers likewise would enjoy the increased certainty of an exact withholding system, which generally would not require them to raise a lump sum payment to satisfy their tax liabilities after year end 27 Additionally, a comprehensive PAYE system could serve as an effective vehicle for achieving substantial tax simplication for a signicant number of taxpayers, a long-held goal of many stakeholders and policymakers 28 This study will examine different PAYE systems existing in other countries and will analyze the benets, burdens, and limitations of a broader PAYE system as it might be applied in the U Finally, although this study does not advocate for any changes to the current U tax collection system, it recommends that the IRS and the Department of the Treasury, in collaboration with TAS, consider the desirability and feasibility of a comprehensive PAYE system applicable to some of the most commonly arising income types, deductions, and credits As discussed in more detail below, a comprehensive PAYE system that incorporated only wage, interest, pension, and dividend income and solely the standard deduction reported on IRS Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return , would result in exact withholding for 22 National Taxpayer Advocate 2017 Annual Report to Congress 219-226; National Taxpayer Advo

9 cate 2016 Annual Report to Congress 151
cate 2016 Annual Report to Congress 151-160; National Taxpayer Advocate 2015 Annual Report to Congress 45-55; National Taxpayer Advocate 2015 Annual Report to Congress 56-63; National Taxpayer Advocate 2015 Annual Report to Congress 346-352; National Taxpayer Advocate 2013 Annual Report to Congress 61-74; National Taxpayer Advocate 2012 Annual Report to Congress 68-94. 23 See Most Serious Problem: False Positive Rates: The IRS’s Fraud Detection Systems Are Marred by High False Positive Rates, Long Processing Times, and Unwieldy Processes Which Continue to Plague the IRS and Harm Legitimate Taxpayers , supra . 24 William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What are the Benefits? Briefing Book, Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/ briefing-book/what-are-benefits-return-free-filing (last visited June 5, 2017). 25 William J. Turnier, PAYE as an Alternative to an Alternative Tax System , 23 . TAX REV . 205, 264 (Summer 2003). 26 Non-wage earners typically make quarterly estimated tax payments which, although sometimes no less confusing or complex, allocate the reporting and remittance burden throughout the year. 27 Deborah A. Geier, Fundamental Tax Reform: Incremental Versus Fundamental Tax Reform and the Top One Percent , 56 SMU L. EV . 99, 167-168 (Winter 2003). 28 See , e.g ., National Taxpayer Advocate 2016 Annual Report to Congress 305-324. TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 10 26 percent of these lings A comprehensive PAYE system that included seven common income types and seven deductions and credits would extend to 51 percent of all tax returns 29 Regardless of the particular form adopted, a comprehensive PAYE system would allow for more precise withholding, limit the number of taxpayers requiring tax reconciliation payments after year end, and allow the option of exempting such taxpayers altogether from post-year-end tax ling obligations 30 Such benets to both taxpayers and the IRS make the prospect of a comprehensive PAYE system intriguing and worthy of further analysis 29 TAS Research analysis of IRS CDW, IRTF, TY 2016 returns. After the standard deduction, the EITC and the CTC are respectively the second- and third-largest credit/deduction items claimed by U.S. taxpayers. Such refundable credits theoretically can be incorporated into a PAYE system so that these refunds are transmitted to taxpayers, either directly or via offset, ratably throughout the course of the year. However, inclusion of these refundable credits within a broader PAYE system would require substantial reform of the tax system and might face resistance from taxpayers (see more detailed discussion in “Successful Implementation of a Comprehensive PAYE System is Feasible, But Requires That a Number of Procedural and Cultural Obstacles Be Addressed and Overcome” infra ). They are presented as part of this latter coverage number to illustrate the scope of a comprehensive PAYE system if larger systemic and attitudinal changes are embraced. 30 William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What are the Benefits? Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/ what-are-benefits-return-free-filing (last visited June 5, 2017). Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 11 PAYE SYSTEMS INCORPORATE VARIOUS GOALS AND APPROACHES Simple Withholding Is the Versio

10 n of PAYE Used Within the U.S. Generally
n of PAYE Used Within the U.S. Generally, three different types of PAYE systems exist The most basic form of PAYE is simple withholding, which is the approach applied in the U It was implemented as a revenue collection mechanism during World War II, and has operated in roughly the same form ever since 31 Under a simple withholding system, taxpayers provide their employers with their marital status, elected allowances, and any additional amounts they would like withheld Withholding is then undertaken from wage income on a paycheck-by-paycheck basis Percentage adjustments are automatically made to account for the amount of earnings within each pay period, but these adjustments are too generalized to result in accurate withholding for many taxpayers 32 Moreover, earnings from other sources, such as interest, dividends, capital gains, and self-employment income are not subject to withholding As a result, a year-end tax reconciliation is required to compare the amounts collected via withholding against the taxpayer’s aggregate annual tax liability This reconciliation, which in the U is implemented through a post-year-end tax return ling requirement imposed on taxpayers, then generates a tax refund, a tax liability, or no payment from either the government or the taxpayer depending on the outcome Exact Withholding Seeks to Collect Complete Tax Liability By the End of the Year The other two varieties of PAYE represent different aspects of a concept known as exact withholding The rst of these methods is referred to as cumulative withholding and is used in countries such as the and New Zealand 33 It aims to withhold precisely the right amount of tax at regular intervals throughout the year 34 To facilitate implementation, participating taxpayers generally are required to provide their employers or the taxing authority with all information necessary to enable the employer to accurately withhold amounts sufcient to satisfy each taxpayer’s annual tax liability from withholding alone 35 Taxpayers also must furnish their employers or the taxing authority with news of any event or change in status that would have a bearing on the determination of their tax liability 36 To the extent taxpayers also earn income from other sources not subject to withholding, they are separately required to report and pay taxes on that amount at year end 31 Pub. L. 68, Ch. 120, 57 Stat. 126 (June 9, 1943). For a discussion of the historical evolution of the U.S. tax administration, see National Taxpayer Advocate 2011 Annual Report to Congress 1-150 (Study: From Tax Collector to Fiscal Automaton: Demographic History of Federal Income Tax Administration 1913-2011). 32 IRS Notice 1036 (Jan. 2018). See also Koenraad van der Heeden, The Pay-As-You-Earn Tax on Wages, Tax Law Design and Drafting vol. 2, 4 (Victor Thuronyi, ed., Int’l Monetary Fund 1998). 33 William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What Is Return-Free Filing and How Would It Work? Briefing Book, Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-it-return-free-filing-and-how-would-it-work (last visited June 5, 2017); IBFD, New Zealand – Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Oct. 1, 2017). 34 Id. 35 See , e.g ., IBFD, United Kingdom - Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Jan. 1, 2017) 1.10.3.1 Employment Income ; William J. Turnier, PAYE as an Alternative to an Alternativ

11 e Tax System , 23 . TAX REV . 205, 251
e Tax System , 23 . TAX REV . 205, 251 (Summer 2003). See also William G. Gale and Janet Holtzblatt, On the Possibility of a No-Return Tax System , . TAX J. 475, 476 (1997). 36 Id . TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 12 The goal of cumulative withholding systems is to collect the proper amount of tax during the year so that no, or only minimal, refunds or tax liabilities are owed after year end Often, taxing authorities will also allow taxpayers requiring no adjustments to forego ling an annual tax return altogether 37 To achieve these benets, cumulative withholding regimes generally apply to income sources beyond simple wages and utilize broader tax brackets 38 These systemic adjustments will be discussed in greater depth when the U system is examined in more detail below Final Withholding Relies on Reconciling Adjustments Made to Year-End Paychecks A third variant of PAYE, which, like cumulative PAYE, is an exact withholding system, represents a hybrid between simple PAYE and cumulative PAYE 39 Specically, nal PAYE systems, which are used in Germany and Japan, apply withholding at a standard rate during the year, and then adjust the amount collected from the nal paycheck of the year to accommodate for the difference in tax withheld versus tax liability 40 Final withholding is a hybrid creation in that it essentially applies simple withholding to all but the taxpayer’s nal paycheck This withholding is generally undertaken without variation or adjustment to account for actual tax liability throughout the bulk of the year 41 Then a year-end reconciliation is made on the nal paycheck with greater or lesser amounts being withheld in order to achieve the proper result 42 Taxpayers’ nal paycheck might be happily large or dishearteningly small The end result, however, will be exact withholding that has been achieved using elements of both simple PAYE and cumulative withholding 43 37 William J. Turnier and Scott L. Little, Is It Time for an American PAYE? , 103 AX NES 559, 564 (May 3, 2004). 38 See , e.g ., IBFD, New Zealand – Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Oct. 1, 2017) 1.10.3, Withholding Taxes . New Zealand, which is one example of a country that utilizes a comprehensive PAYE system, withholds taxes on a variety of income sources, including wages, dividends, and interest. See also William G. Gale and Janet Holtzblatt, On the Possibility of a No-Return Tax System , . TAX J. 475, 476 (1997). 39 Koenraad van der Heeden, The Pay-As-You-Earn Tax on Wages, Tax Law Design and Drafting vol. 2, 5 (Victor Thuronyi, ed., International Monetary Fund 1998). 40 William G. Gale and Janet Holtzblatt, On the Possibility of a No-Return Tax System , . TAX J. 475, 476 (1997). 41 Koenraad van der Heeden, The Pay-As-You-Earn Tax on Wages, Tax Law Design and Drafting vol. 2, 5 (Victor Thuronyi, ed., International Monetary Fund, 1998). 42 William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What Is Return-Free Filing and How Would It Work? Briefing Book, Tax Pol’y Ctr., http:// www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-it-return-free-filing-and-how-would-it-work (last visited June 5, 2017). 43 Koenraad van der Heeden, The Pay-As-You-Earn Tax on Wages, Tax Law Design and Drafting vol. 2, 5 (Victor Thuronyi, ed., International Monetary Fund 1998). Taxpayer Adv

12 ocate Service — 2018 Annual Repor
ocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 13 PAYE SYSTEMS, EVEN THOSE INVOLVING EXACT WITHHOLDING, ARE DIFFERENT FROM TAX AGENCY RECONCILIATIONS To the extent that a PAYE system is reasonably comprehensive, it readily lends itself to a return-free environment 44 If taxpayers neither owe tax, nor are entitled to refunds, the need for year-end tax returns can be greatly minimized or rendered superuous 45 A return-free environment has many advantages, including increased certainty, reduced burden, and improved resource allocation 46 Nevertheless, PAYE, which is the subject of this study, represents a fundamentally different concept from tax agency reconciliations (TAR) PAYE systems concern themselves with revenue collection, whereas TAR focuses on information reporting 47 As a result, TAR and PAYE can coexist or be applied independently of one another The difference between a TAR and a comprehensive PAYE is that, in a TAR, the taxing authority generally provides taxpayers with tax data and initial calculations that taxpayers can accept or amend as they determine their own liabilities On the other hand, in a PAYE system, a third-party employer or institution collects taxes at source based on rules formulated by the taxing authority and data furnished by the taxpayer This taxpayer data, which helps determine amounts withheld, is sometimes compiled by the taxing authority, as in the U, and sometimes provided directly by the taxpayer to the employer or institution, as in the U 48 Commentators and legislators, however, sometimes are vague in drawing denitional lines and matters can be further complicated by the fact that year-end return-free ling can be facilitated by either a PAYE system or a TAR system 49 As a result, clarity in the tax administration dialogue can be greatly enhanced by distinguishing PAYE from TAR, and then by specically identifying the particular system in which some degree of return-free ling might be contemplated As mentioned, in a TAR system, the tax authorities provide some or all taxpayers with a pre-lled return, which taxpayers can either le as-is or correct to reect their actual bill or refund due 50 Variations of this system, which are alternatively described as “pre-populated returns,” “pre-lled returns,” and “auto- lled returns” are used in countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal 51 44 Austan Goolsbee, The Simple Return: Reducing America’s Tax Burden Through Return-Free Filing , The Hamilton Project 7-10 (July 2006), http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/the_simple_return_reducing_americas_tax_burden_through_return- free_fil . 45 William J. Turnier and Scott L. Little, Is It Time for an American PAYE? , 103 AX NES 559, 561 (May 3, 2004). 46 William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What are the Benefits? , Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/ what-are-benefits-return-free-filing (last visited June 5, 2017). 47 William G. Gale, Remove the Return, in Toward Tax Reform: Recs. for Obama’s Task Force 40, 41 (Tax Analysts, 2009); William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What Is Return-Free Filing and How Would It Work? Briefing Book, Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-it-return-free-filing-and-how-would-it-work (last visited June 5, 2017). 48 IBFD, United

13 Kingdom - Country Analysis 1. Individual
Kingdom - Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Jan. 1, 2017) 1.10.3.1 Employment Income . 49 See , e.g. , Joseph Cordes and Arlene Holen, Should the Government Prepare Individual Tax Returns? , Technology Policy Institute 3 (Sept. 2010); Staff of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Tax Maze (2016), http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/ Tax_Maze_Report.pdf . 50 William G. Gale, Remove the Return, in Toward Tax Reform: Recs. for Obama’s Task Force 40, 41 (Tax Analysts, 2009); William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What Is Return-Free Filing and How Would It Work? , Briefing Book, Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-it-return-free-filing-and-how-would-it-work (last visited June 5, 2017). 51 Forum on Tax Administration Sub-Group, Using Third Party Information Reports to Assist Taxpayers Meet Their Return Filing Obligations—Country Experiences with the Use of Pre-populated Personal Tax Returns , Ctr. for Tax Admin., Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 5-6 (Mar. 2006). IBFD, Denmark – Country Analyses – 1. Individual Income Tax (Aug. 1, 2017), 1.11.1, Tax Returns ; IBFD, Sweden – Country Analyses – 1. Individual Income Tax (Nov. 1, 2017), 1.11.1, Tax Returns ; IBFD, Spain – Country Analyses – 1. Individual Income Tax (Oct. 9, 2017), 1.11.2, Assessment ; IBFD, Portugal– Country Analyses – 1. Individual Income Tax (Nov. 1, 2017), 1.11.1, Tax Returns . TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 14 Additionally, the National Taxpayer Advocate previously has advocated that the IRS make nancial data provided by third parties electronically available to taxpayers and their representatives for the purpose of tax return preparation 52 While not an active TAR, this approach would have many of the benets, including minimized taxpayer burden and enhanced accuracy The IRS itself likewise has proposed the Real Time Tax Initiative in which information returns, such as Forms W-2 and Forms 1099, would be accessible for use during the ling season 53 A TAR, however, regardless of its form and regardless of how desirable, will not alone address the revenue collection side of the tax equation Tax liabilities, even if they can more accurately be determined, must still be collected and refunds must still be paid For example, for the 2016 tax year, the IRS issued over 116 million refunds totaling approximately $416 billion, with the median refund being $1,700 and the mean refund being $3,600 54 A comprehensive PAYE system would substantially reduce the year-end tax collections and refunds to be made by the IRS 55 As with a comprehensive TAR, it could also be coupled with a return-free element eliminating the need for many qualifying taxpayers to le year-end returns 56 52 National Taxpayer Advocate 2013 Annual Report to Congress vol. 2, 68-96. 53 National Taxpayer Advocate 2009 Annual Report to Congress 338-345; National Taxpayer Advocate 2011 Annual Report to Congress 284-295; IRS, Real Time Tax Initiative (Apr. 27, 2018) https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/real-time-tax- initiative ; Presentation, Real Time Tax Initiative Pub. Meeting (Dec. 8, 2011), https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/rtts_deck.pdf . 54 IRS, IRTF, CDW, individual returns for TY 2016, data accessed Sept. 7, 2018. 55 William J. Turnier and Scott L. Little,

14 Is It Time for an American PAYE? , 103
Is It Time for an American PAYE? , 103 AX NES 559, 561 (May 3, 2004). 56 William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What are the Benefits? , Briefing Book, Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/ briefing-book/what-are-benefits-return-free-filing (last visited June 5, 2017). Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 15 THE U.S. CAN LEARN MUCH FROM THE EXPERIENCES OF OTHER COUNTRIES WITH PAYE SYSTEMS Countries Choosing to Offer Some Form of Return-Free Filing Generally Do So In Combination With PAYE Collection Mechanisms Approximately 36 countries allow return-free ling for qualifying taxpayers 57 Nearly all of these countries implement the return-free portion of their tax administration through some form of exact withholding PAYE 58 As explained above, this exact withholding can be undertaken using a cumulative withholding system, which makes adjustments and strives to collect the correct amount of tax throughout the course of the year The U, Russia, and New Zealand are primary examples of countries employing cumulative withholding 59 On the other hand, some countries, such as Germany and Japan, rely on nal withholding systems that collect the proper amount of tax by adjusting withholding on taxpayers’ nal paycheck of the year 60 Many other countries combine aspects of these exact withholding PAYE regimes with other requirements for, and limitations on, return-free eligibility Even simple withholding can be used to achieve return-free, or almost return-free, treatment for certain categories of taxpayers, as is done in the Netherlands 61 Most countries seeking to create a return-free environment do so by focusing primarily on wage withholding 62 Other countries, however, such as the , have extended the reach of their PAYE systems to other types of income, and in doing so, have expanded the breadth of their return-free capacity 63 The U.K. Employs One of the Most Comprehensive PAYE Systems in the World The U has operated a cumulative form of exact withholding for decades This system, which centers on the pay-as-you-earn concept, has specically been named “PAYE” by the U . 64 As discussed above, commentators and other tax systems likewise have adopted the term “PAYE” to describe pay-as-you-earn systems ranging from simple PAYE to exact withholding 57 William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What Other Countries Use It? , Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing- book/what-other-countries-use-it (last visited Dec. 19, 2017). 58 William G. Gale and Janet Holtzblatt, On the Possibility of a No-Return Tax System , . TAX J. 475, 476 (1997). 59 William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What Is Return-Free Filing and How Would It Work? Briefing Book, Tax Pol’y Ctr., http:// www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-it-return-free-filing-and-how-would-it-work (last visited Dec. 19, 2017); IBFD, New Zealand – Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Oct. 1, 2017) 1.10.3, Withholding taxes . 60 William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, What Is Return-Free Filing and How Would It Work? , Briefing Book, Tax Pol’y Ctr., http:// www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-it-return-free-filing-and-how-would-it-work (last visited June 5, 2017). 61 Government of the Netherlands, Filing a Tax Return , https://www.government.nl/topics/income-tax/filing-a-tax-re

15 turn ; IBFD, Netherlands – Country
turn ; IBFD, Netherlands – Country Analyses – 1. Individual Income Tax (Aug. 1, 2017), 1.10.3.1, Employment Income ; Koenraad van der Heeden, The Pay-As-You-Earn Tax on Wages, Tax Law Design and Drafting vol. 2, 7-8 (Victor Thuronyi, ed., International Monetary Fund 1998). 62 Koenraad van der Heeden, The Pay-As-You-Earn Tax on Wages, Tax Law Design and Drafting vol. 2, 7-8 (Victor Thuronyi, ed., International Monetary Fund 1998). 63 William G. Gale and Janet Holtzblatt, On the Possibility of a No-Return Tax System , L AW TAX J. no. 3, 1997, 475, 477-78. See also HMRC, UK Tax Gap Falls to 6.5 Percent As HMRC Targets the Dishonest Minority (Oct. 20, 2016) https://www.gov. uk/government/news/uk-tax-gap-falls-to-65-as-hmrc-targets-the-dishonest-minority ; HMRC, Income Tax Overview (Oct. 14, 2016), https://www.gov.uk/income-tax/overview . 64 David Gauke, PAYE Story , AX (Sept. 21, 2011), http://www.taxation.co.uk/taxation/Articles/2011/09/21/29571/paye- story . TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 16 As in the U, the U version of PAYE was established in the 1940s to address the nancial obligations generated by World War II To assist in meeting the funding requirements of the war and its aftermath, the U increased its tax rolls by 150 percent over a two-year period 65 PAYE was correspondingly developed to limit the mistakes and computational burdens of the U’s additional inexperienced taxpayers . 66 Originally, PAYE estimated taxpayers’ annual tax liability and collected it via withholding throughout the course of the year . 67 As time and technology progressed, the U sought to accommodate changing work patterns and increase the precision and efciency of tax collection by updating PAYE In 2009, the U created the National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS) to compile and maintain in a single location records relating to earnings, tax, and National Insurance 68 Then, in 2013, the U began requiring most employers to report PAYE income tax information to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in real time 69 The ability to maintain and access a single taxpayer record in real time allows for more accurate and efcient tax determinations and collections throughout the year, while also facilitating a new benets payment system, the Universal Credit 70 In order to cover the maximum number of taxpayers as comprehensively as possible under its PAYE system, the U takes some approaches different from those adopted by the U In particular, U taxpayers le and are taxed individually regardless of their family status 71 By contrast, the U’s retrospective approach to administering tax benets, such as the EITC, with reference to the ongoing existence of the family unit, places signicant limitations on the number of tax returns to which a comprehensive PAYE system could be applied 72 Additionally, withholding at source occurs on a range of income beyond wage earnings, including royalties, pensions, and annuities 73 Moreover, beginning with a 2013 phase-in, the U has generally administered benets and support programs on a direct payment basis, rather than through the tax 65 William G. Gale and Janet Holtzblatt, On the Possibility of a No-Return Tax System , L AW TAX J. no. 3, 1997, 475, 477. 66 Id . 67 David Gauke, PAYE Story , TAX’N (Sept. 21

16 , 2011), http://www.taxation.co.uk/taxa
, 2011), http://www.taxation.co.uk/taxation/Articles/2011/09/21/29571/paye-story . 68 Id . Note, National Insurance in the U.K. is similar in concept to Social Security in the U.S. 69 Jessica Winch, Q&A: Why Your PAYE is Switching to ‘Real Time,’ ELEGAPH , (Apr. 5, 2013), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ finance/personalfinance/tax/9973700/QandA-Why-your-PAYE-tax-is-changing-to-real-time.html . As used herein, the term “real time” means contemporaneously or instantaneously, as the case may be. 70 Id . 71 William G. Gale and Janet Holtzblatt, On the Possibility of a No-Return Tax System , L NAW T J. no. 3, 1997, 475, 477-479. 72 National Taxpayer Advocate 2016 Annual Report to Congress 325-357; National Taxpayer Advocate 2016 Annual Report to Congress 325-357. For a more in-depth discussion of this issue, see The Ability to Administer Refundable Credits Through the PAYE System Would Substantially Broaden Its Potential Scope , infra . 73 IBFD, United Kingdom - Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Jan. 1, 2017) 1.3.3, Pension income ; 1.10.3, Withholding taxes . Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 17 system 74 These adjustments make it easier for PAYE to operate very broadly and to collect the full annual tax liability from the majority of U taxpayers during the course of the year The results of PAYE in the U are noteworthy The U income tax gap for individuals, which is the difference between the income and related tax due and the amount collected, has dropped by approximately seven percent from 56 percent to 52 percent between 2005-2006 and 2014-2015 75 By contrast, the individual income tax gap when last measured in the U in 2006 was roughly 14 percent of the tax due 76 Further, the last comprehensive study of tax compliance costs in the U estimated these costs to be approximately two percent of revenue collected, as compared with over eight percent of revenue collected in the U for roughly the same period 77 As an additional measure of tax compliance efciency, the uncollected tax debt in the U (approximately two percent) is substantially lower as a percentage of net tax revenue than it is in the U (roughly 13 percent) 78 74 In 2003, the U.K. began administering welfare through the tax system, via the Working Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. Michael Godwin and Colin Lawson, The Life and Death of the Child Tax Credit and the Working Tax Credit , COICS KIAPE . 1/12 (2012). Then, in 2013, the U.K. adopted the Universal Credit as a comprehensive benefit program to replace a variety of individual support payments and tax credits, including the income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, the Working Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the-income based Employment and Support Allowance. United Kingdom Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit Announced (Oct. 5, 2010) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ universal-credit-introduced ; Universal Credit: What Is It? https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit (last visited Aug. 6, 2018). In part, the Universal Credit was meant to address complexities and remedy difficulties encountered by HMRC in attempting to administer benefits programs through the tax system, which, among other things, required reference to the family unit. United Kingdom Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit Announced (Oct. 5, 2010) https://www.gov.

17 uk/government/news/universal-credit-intr
uk/government/news/universal-credit-introduced . The Universal Credit is now administered by the Department for Work and Pensions and is provided via direct payments determined with reference to income information compiled by HMRC. Department of Work and Pensions, Universal Credit and You (July 25, 2018) Sec. 4, https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/universal-credit-and-you/universal-credit-and-you-a#payments----how-when-and-where . 75 HMRC, Measuring Tax Gaps 2016 Edition: Tax Gap Estimates for 2014-2015 , Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Oct. 20, 2016) 16, http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20170621230141/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/file/561312/HMRC-measuring-tax-gaps-2016.pdf . In the U.K., the individual income gap in 2014-2015 was measured at £15.5 billion. 76 IRS, IRS Releases New Tax Gap Estimates; Compliance Rates Remain Statistically Unchanged From Previous Study (Jan. 6, 2012), https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-new-tax-gap-estimates-compliance-rates-remain-statistically-unchanged- from-previous-study . This 14.5 percent, as with the U.K. tax gap percentage, is net of taxes collected through enforcement activity. Unlike the applicable dollar amounts, the IRS only provides this percentage cumulatively and does not break it down among taxpayer categories such as individuals and corporations. Thus, the respective tax gaps may not necessarily constitute an exact “apples to apples” comparison, but they do provide some insight into the compliance behavior in the U.K. and the U.S. When last measured in 2006, the U.S. individual income tax gap was valued at $309 billion. 77 Treasury Committee, House of Commons, The Administrative Costs of Tax Compliance: Seventh Report of Session 2003-2004 (June 4, 2004); David Collard and Michael Godwin, Compliance Costs for Employers: UK PAYE and National Insurance , 1995- 6, 20 Fiscal Studies 423, 439-440 (1999); William J. Turnier and Scott L. Little, Is It Time for an American PAYE? , 103 AX ES 559, 566-568 (May 3, 2004). 78 OECD, AXDMISTRIO 2017: PAIVENFRMIOOECNDHEVACENDGICOIES (2017) 106 https:// read.oecd-ilibrary.org/taxation/tax-administration-2017_tax_admin-2017-en#page107 . The OECD defines tax debt as the total amount of tax that is overdue for payment at the end of the fiscal year, including any interest and penalties. As with the compliance costs discussed in the preceding sentence, the uncollected tax debts of the U.K. and the U.S. have a number of causal factors. Among these, the scope of PAYE within each country plays an important role in determining the comparative efficiency of tax administration. TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 18 FIGURE 1.2, Comparative Compliance Data 79 Metric U.K. U.S. Individual tax gap 5.6% 14.5% Compliance costs as a percentage of revenue collected 2% 8% Uncollected tax debt as a percentage of net revenue 2% 13% PAYE as applied in the U has not been free of difculties and controversies Each evolutionary phase, such as the implementation of NPS and the move to real-time reporting, has hit implementation snags and required subsequent adjustments 80 Further, no system of PAYE can completely cover all taxpayers, and a certain portion will always require year-end reconciliation 81 For example, PAYE in the U excludes self-employed workers 82 L

18 ikewise, the possibility of error on the
ikewise, the possibility of error on the part of any system of tax administration can only be minimized, not completely eliminated Nevertheless, the cumulative withholding PAYE system used in the U appears to be relatively successful in limiting aggregate compliance costs, reducing the income tax gap, and extending a return-free system to approximately 65 percent of individual taxpayers 83 Several Tax Authorities Have Taken Steps to Employ Various Types of PAYE A range of countries has been making increasing use of PAYE in one form or another For example, in New Zealand, tax code declarations are provided by employees to employers 84 These tax codes determine the amount of tax to be deducted from gross wages and salaries and remitted by employers to the tax authority 85 The tax codes take into account the type of employment, the number of jobs held, and the employee’s entitlement to various rebates and deductions 86 For example, a tax code factors in taxpayers’ eligibility for various benets, such as a credit for people earning between $24,000 and $48,000, families with minor dependents, and those possessing student loans 87 Further, employees can apply to the tax authority for a special tax code certicate reecting unique situations, such as previously accruing losses eligible for deduction 88 79 Sources for all data in this table are cited in the previous narrative paragraph. In order to display the most accurate presentation, this table presents tax gap numbers for tax years ending in 2006, which is the most current year for which both the U.S. and the U.K. published such information. 80 Richard Dyson, Digital Tax: ‘HMRC Wants a Direct Link to Everyone’s Bank Accounts’ TELEG (Jan. 31, 2016), http://www. telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/tax/12128902/Digital-tax-HMRC-wants-a-direct-link-to-everyones-bank-accounts.html ; David Gauke, PAYE Story , TAX’N (Sept. 21, 2011), http://www.taxation.co.uk/taxation/Articles/2011/09/21/29571/paye-story . 81 David Gauke, PAYE Story , TAX’N (Sept. 21, 2011), http://www.taxation.co.uk/taxation/Articles/2011/09/21/29571/paye-story . 82 Employment Status: Self Employed and Contractors , https://www.gov.uk/employment-status/selfemployed-contractor (last visited Sept. 6, 2018). 83 Louise Eccles, Millions Are Needlessly Filling In Tax Returns: Quarter of Those Completing Forms Owe Less Than £50 Or Nothing At AlI , HE DAILY MAIL (June 15, 2015), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3125675/Millions-needlessly-filling- tax-returns-Quarter-completing-forms-owe-50-all.html ; William J. Turnier, PAYE as an Alternative to an Alternative Tax System , 23 . TAX REV . 205, 212 (Summer 2003). 84 New Zealand Inland Revenue, What is my tax code? (Mar. 31, 2017) http://www.ird.govt.nz/contact-us/topfive/four/tax- code-index.html?id=201711MegaMenu . 85 Id . 86 Id . 87 New Zealand Inland Revenue, Work Out Your Tax Code (Dec. 4, 2015) http://www.ird.govt.nz/how-to/taxrates-codes/ workout/ ; New Zealand Inland Revenue, Independent Earner Tax Credit (Jul. 20, 2017) http://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax- individual/tax-credits/ietc/?id=201512TaxRateCalculator . 88 IBFD, New Zealand – Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Oct. 1, 2017) 1.10.3, Withholding taxes . Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 19 Taxpayers obtain a ta

19 x code by answering a questionnaire avai
x code by answering a questionnaire available on the tax authority’s website 89 The result of these questions generates a code corresponding to a series of potential circumstances ( e.g. , one employer, income of $75,000, one minor dependent) Thereafter, taxpayers furnish the applicable tax code to their employers 90 If taxpayers fail to do so, withholding is instead applied at a default rate of 45 percent 91 Anytime taxpayers’ circumstances change, they can return to the tax authority’s website and obtain a revised tax code, which in turn they forward to their employer Likewise, if the tax authority determines that taxpayers are using an incorrect tax code, it will send them a letter asking them to return to the website and update the applicable tax code 92 Thus, New Zealand’s PAYE regime is relatively exible in addressing taxpayers’ individual circumstances Spain utilizes a PAYE system similar in concept to that of the U, but broader in application It imposes withholding on employment earnings after adjusting for allowances and specied deductions, such as contributions to the social security system, donations to charitable organizations, and a range of other work-related expenditures capped at  2,000 93 In addition, Spain withholds on dividends, interest, and royalties, and on income earned by many self-employed professionals 94 At year end, taxpayers le a tax return and, as in the U, withheld amounts are treated as a credit against the amount of tax owed By comparison, in Australia, withholding, referred to by Australians as pay-as-you-go (PAYG), is still primarily imposed on wage income 95 It is not yet applied to dividends and interest earned by residents, but such income paid to non-resident sources is subject to PAYG 96 Also, Australia requires that payors who utilize the services of independent contractors undertake withholding if requested by those contractors, which step represents an important progression along the comprehensive withholding spectrum 97 89 New Zealand Inland Revenue, What is my tax code? (Mar. 31, 2017) http://www.ird.govt.nz/contact-us/topfive/four/tax- code-index.html?id=201711MegaMenu . 90 Id . 91 IBFD, New Zealand – Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Oct. 1, 2017) 1.10.3.1, Employment Income. 92 New Zealand Inland Revenue, What is my tax code? (Mar. 31, 2017) http://www.ird.govt.nz/contact-us/topfive/four/tax- code-index.html?id=201711MegaMenu . 93 IBFD, Spain – Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Nov. 24, 2017) 1.3.6, Computation of Employment Income. 94 IBFD, Spain – Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Nov. 24, 2017) 1.10.3, Withholding Taxes. This withholding is applied at varying rates based predominantly on the nature of the income earned and the period of time that the taxpayer has been in business. Thus, a taxpayer who has been self-employed as an artist for two years generally has withholding applied on incoming payments at a rate of seven percent, while after the third year, withholding increases to a rate of 19 percent. By contrast, income from renting urban immovable properties is subject to withholding at a rate of 19 percent, while income from the sale of the right to use their image by artists, athletes and bullfighters is subject to withholding at a rate of 24 percent. In such cases, withholding is generally undertaken by the pay

20 or and remitted to the Spanish tax auth
or and remitted to the Spanish tax authority. Susana Serrano-Davey, Self-employment in Spain , XPAICA (Aug. 3, 2018) https://www.expatica.com/new/es/ employment/self-employment/become-a-freelancer-2-104199/ . 95 Australian Tax Office (ATO), Payments You Need to Withhold From (Apr. 5, 2017) https://www.ato.gov.au/business/payg- withholding/payments-you-need-to-withhold-from/ . 96 ATO, Payments You Need to Withhold From (Apr. 5, 2017) https://www.ato.gov.au/business/payg-withholding/payments-you- need-to-withhold-from/ ; IBFD, Australia – Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Aug .1, 2017) 1.10.3, Withholding Taxes . 97 ATO, Payments You Need to Withhold From (Apr. 5, 2017) https://www.ato.gov.au/business/payg-withholding/payments- you-need-to-withhold-from/ . The National Taxpayer Advocate has recommended that the U.S. adopt a voluntary withholding system for independent contractors. National Taxpayer Advocate 2017 Annual Report to Congress 329-331; National Taxpayer Advocate 2017 Annual Report to Congress vol. 3, 81-82; National Taxpayer Advocate 2003 Annual Report to Congress 256-269. TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 20 Recently, France also adopted sweeping changes to its system of tax administration aimed at implementing a broadly applicable PAYE regime 98 Effective January 1, 2019, withholding at source will be imposed on a range of income including salaries, pensions, unemployment, and sickness benets 99 Likewise, taxpayers will be expected to impose self-withholding on amounts such as business income, income from immovable properties, alimony, and foreign-source income 100 This combination of payor withholding and self-withholding should advance France substantially along the comprehensive PAYE spectrum The PAYE regimes of the U, New Zealand, Spain, Australia, and France provide generally representative examples of the PAYE systems utilized by the 36 countries that employ such mechanisms 101 The scope of PAYE differs and the extent to which these countries combine PAYE with return-free ling or auto-ll capacity vary Nevertheless, PAYE is growing in popularity and expanding in coverage around the world 98 IBFD, France – Country Surveys 1. Individual Income Tax (Oct. 10, 2017) 1.10.3, Payment of Tax . 99 Id . 100 Id. This self-withholding is undertaken in a manner similar to that of the U.S., but taxpayers are required to make provisional payments on a monthly basis and must furnish the details of their bank accounts when filing tax returns. Ernst & Young, France to Implement Withholding Tax Obligation on Employers Effective 1 January 2018 (Mar. 2017). 101 William G. Gale Benjamin Harris, What Other Countries Use It? , Tax Pol’y Ctr., http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/ what-other-countries-use-it (last visited Dec. 19, 2017). Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 21 EXPANDED USE OF PAYE IN THE U.S. COULD BRING MANY BENEFITS A broader application of PAYE in the U would be benecial for a number of reasons From the perspective of taxpayers, an expanded PAYE tax system combined with real-time adjustments based on taxpayers’ changing circumstances would allow for a much more accurate collection of tax liabilities at source throughout the course of the year In theory, by year end, most taxpayers

21 would be neither over-withheld nor unde
would be neither over-withheld nor under-withheld and would have enjoyed the benets of this relative certainty during the entire year For TY 2016, the IRS paid out over $116 million refund claims totaling over $416 billion 102 Moreover, approximately $1 billion of available federal refunds go unclaimed by taxpayers each year 103 A comprehensive PAYE system would have the effect of releasing refunds in real time, as no more than the correct tax generally would be collected on an ongoing basis For most taxpayers, this circumstance could negate the need to seek a refund and eliminate the delays inherent in such a process For example, assume that Joe works as a full time computer programmer for Company A, earning salaried income of $60,000 during 2018 He is also entitled to deduct the $2,000 of student loan interest he pays during the year Even though taxes will be collected from his paycheck throughout the course of the year, Joe will need to wait until 2019 to le a tax return and receive the benet of the student loan interest deduction 104 By contrast, under a comprehensive PAYE system, Joe’s withholding is adjusted downward to take account of the deductible student loan interest he is paying by building it into his withholding rate As a result, Joe will be provided the student loan interest deduction ratably throughout 2018, in the form of lower withholding, and will not be forced to wait until the refund arrives in 2019 to recognize the economic benet it is intended to confer 105 As mentioned above, refunds of all sorts, including those attributable to refundable credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), could be incorporated into a PAYE system such that these refunds were transmitted to taxpayers, either directly or via offset, ratably throughout the course of the year Including refundable credits in a PAYE system, however, would require a willingness to prepay benets based on a reasonable expectation of qualication and then recapture those benets post-year-end to the extent that the anticipated qualication did not occur As with many incremental adjustments along the comprehensive PAYE spectrum, such a modication would not necessarily be technically daunting to undertake, but would require a signicant and perhaps controversial policy change with respect to the way these tax benet programs are viewed and administered 102 IRS, IRTF, CDW, individual returns for TY 2016, data accessed Oct. 19, 2018. 103 See, e.g ., IRS, IRS Has Refunds Totaling $950 Million for People Who Have Not Filed a 2012 Federal Income Tax Return (Mar. 10, 2016) https://www.irs.gov/uac/newsroom/irs-has-refunds-totaling-950-million-dollars-for-people-who-have-not- filed-a-2012-federal-income-tax-return , announcing that the statute of limitations for claiming calendar year (CY) 2012 refunds would expire in April of 2016. 104 Such will be the case unless Joe anticipates these payments and independently factors them into the withholding allowances he furnishes to his employer. 105 In the event that Joe also supplemented his income through part-time participation in the gig economy, he likely would be under-withheld at year end. However, in the short run, a PAYE system can allow taxpayers to take account of this circumstance by making it possible for them to adjust withholding on their W-2 income to

22 cover Schedule C earnings. In the long
cover Schedule C earnings. In the longer term, a broader PAYE system could be expanded to incorporate withholding directly against certain types of self-employment income, such as on payments to independent contractors from large companies ( e.g ., Uber or Lyft). See Coverage of Independent Contractors Within the PAYE System Would Represent a Significant Step Along the Comprehensiveness Spectrum , infra . TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 22 In addition to the speed and accuracy of withholding adjustments under a comprehensive PAYE system, it readily facilitates a return-free environment Taxpayers who likely will neither owe tax nor be entitled to a refund generally could be exempt from year-end ling requirements, if Congress chose to make this option available This dispensation would allow many taxpayers to avoid the anxiety and tedium of the return ling process Of course, even in a return-free environment, post-year-end ling would still be necessary to address unusual situations or to report income from which no withholding was undertaken Nevertheless, under a return free regime, the more comprehensive the accompanying PAYE system, the fewer year-end lings would be necessary A comprehensive PAYE system, coupled with return-free ling, would provide tangible cost savings when measured in terms of time and money that could be reallocated from the tax preparation process to other uses The amount of taxpayer-related compliance costs that would be saved under a comprehensive PAYE system will vary widely depending on how many taxpayers fall within its return- free coverage and is somewhat difcult to estimate 106 For example, the U for tax year 2016 had approximately 255 million taxpayers reporting Schedule C income, which generally is not subject to withholding 107 Of course, an expansion of PAYE to cover some of these taxpayers would require substantial attitudinal changes and would be limited by the types of Schedule C income that could be reasonably included Nevertheless, one study concluded that a return-free system could be made applicable to as many as 40 percent of all taxpayers and could save more than $2 billion and up to 225 million hours of time per year 108 Alternatively, given the development of enhanced real-time reporting capabilities that must occur for a partial or comprehensive PAYE system to exist, such a system could be combined with an auto-ll regime, some other type of TAR, or simply a system in which third-party electronic nancial documents are made available to taxpayers in real time 109 Some of these combinations could facilitate a return-free environment, while others would not rise to that level Regardless, U taxpayers would benet from substantial simplication both in the collection and reporting of tax liabilities Likewise, from the standpoint of tax administration, the IRS would gain much from a comprehensive PAYE system As the liabilities of most taxpayers would be determined and collected in real time, the IRS would be spared the resource burdens inherent in after-the-fact collection endeavors Moreover, they would be obtaining the taxes themselves and much of the relevant tax information from third parties, thereby substantially reducing opportunities for intentional noncompliance 110 In particular, real-time reporting would make

23 it more difcult for criminals to su
it more difcult for criminals to sustain fraud on a broad scale 106 For the wide variety of compliance cost estimates for different proposed PAYE systems, see Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, Dorgan Bill Proposes Return-Free Filing Option for Individuals , Doc 2001- 10120, 2001 TNT 72-59; Department of the Treasury, Report to the Congress on Return-Free Tax Systems: Tax Simplification is a Prerequisite , 5 (Dec. 2003); General Accounting Office, Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Tax Administration: Alternative Filing Systems 2 (Oct. 1996). 107 IRS, IRTF, CDW, individual returns for TY 2016, data accessed Oct. 19, 2018. 108 Austan Goolsbee, The Simple Return: Reducing America’s Tax Burden Through Return-Free Filing , The Hamilton Project 2 (July 2006). http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/the_simple_return_reducing_americas_tax_burden_through_return-free_fil . 109 These real time capabilities are discussed in more detail below. 110 William J. Turnier, PAYE as an Alternative to an Alternative Tax System , 23 . TAX REV . 205, 264 (Summer 2003). See also National Taxpayer Advocate 2015 Annual Report to Congress 45-55. Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 23 Further, to the extent that comprehensive PAYE was combined with return-free ling, the IRS would also experience signicant cost savings in that the number of year-end tax returns to be processed would be dramatically reduced The IRS could then allocate the resources currently devoted to this return processing to areas of greater need that would yield better service, education, and outreach for taxpayers, and improved results for the IRS A 1996 Government Accountability Ofce (GAO) study indicated that return-free ling could save the IRS up to $37 million (59 million 2018 dollars) annually in administrative and compliance costs 111 The amount of these savings if return-free ling were combined with comprehensive PAYE presumably would increase even more, as collection and enforcement costs would be reduced Another benet to a comprehensive PAYE system from the IRS’s perspective likely would be increased taxpayer satisfaction and the benets that go with it 112 To the extent that taxpayers have fewer compliance burdens, fewer lump sum tax liabilities, and fewer tax collection proceedings, the more satised they generally will be A voluntary tax compliance system relies for its success on taxpayers’ perceptions of its fairness, professionalism, and unobtrusiveness 113 A well-run comprehensive PAYE system, particularly if combined with return-free ling, has the potential to make U taxpayers feel substantially better about the fairness and competence of the tax system to which they are subject In turn, these perceptions would bolster the system itself and make the efforts of the IRS signicantly more effective and efcient 111 General Accounting Office, Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Tax Administration: Alternative Filing Systems 2 (Oct. 1996). 2018 equivalents determined through the use of the inflation calculator based on U.S. Consumer Price Index data at http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

24 . This GAO study and its results are pr
. This GAO study and its results are provided purely for illustrative purposes, as the tax system has changed substantially since 1996. For example, the Affordable Care Act has been included and the EITC has been expanded. 112 Irish Tax and Customs, Statistics and Economic Research Branch, Survey of PAYE Taxpayers 2015 , 3 (Apr. 2016). While the satisfaction level of Irish taxpayers with respect to PAYE (91 percent) cannot necessarily be assumed to equate with the satisfaction level of U.S. taxpayers in similar circumstances, this data does provide a reasonable basis for inferring the rough level of U.S. satisfaction that likely would exist with regard to a successfully implemented PAYE system. 113 National Taxpayer Advocate 2016 Annual Report to Congress 50-63. TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 24 PAYE LENDS ITSELF TO INCREMENTAL APPLICATION The benets of PAYE are directly linked to the breadth of the system adopted As discussed above, simple PAYE has a number of positive attributes, but not as many as a cumulative withholding system In turn, a comprehensive PAYE system will confer increasing benets as it expands to cover broader groups of taxpayers For example, a robust PAYE regime that is premised on real-time data collection, that collects exact withholding from a number of income sources, and that could facilitate return-free ling for the majority of the population has much more to offer both taxpayers and the IRS than simple withholding limited to wages, which currently has no return-free component 114 However, the levels of coverage provided within a fully comprehensive PAYE system require compromises that may not always be desirable or currently achievable For instance, the tax system in the U has in many respects been tailored specically to enable PAYE to provide the maximum number of taxpayers with a return-free option 115 Among other things, the U has broadened tax rate categories, exempted certain categories of income from tax, and removed the distinction between individual and married lers to facilitate the effective application of a PAYE that incorporates return- free ling 116 Many of these systemic changes may prove necessary in order to offer U taxpayers a comprehensive PAYE system that is also accompanied by return-free ling Some or all of these systemic revisions undoubtedly would be controversial and perhaps undesirable if imported into the U system of taxation Nevertheless, PAYE systems can be applied along a continuum with coverage gradually expanding to the extent that the requisite compromises are deemed acceptable and the necessary systemic revisions determined to be appropriate Several points exist between simple PAYE at one end of the spectrum and a theoretically complete cumulative withholding system in which no one has year-end payment and ling obligations at the other extreme PAYE can be expanded incrementally and its commensurate benets realized in stages until a balance is met between the advantages of increased PAYE coverage and the costs, political and administrative, of systemic tax administration reform In other words, this approach allows people to say, “This far and no further,” and understand the reasons for compromises being made 114 As previously discussed, PAYE, in its various incarnations, is a mechanism for tax collect

25 ion, whereas return-free filing address
ion, whereas return-free filing addresses the issue of whether, and under what circumstances, taxpayers will be required to file an income tax return. These mechanisms can operate separately or in tandem, depending upon how they interact and upon the preference of the given tax authority. 115 For more information on the U.K. system, see The U.K. Employs One of the Most Comprehensive PAYE Systems In the World , supra . 116 William G. Gale and Janet Holtzblatt, On the Possibility of a No-Return Tax System , . TAX J. 475, 477-479 (1997). Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 25 A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF U.S. TAX RETURNS ILLUSTRATES POTENTIAL COVERAGE POINTS ALONG THE PAYE SPECTRUM When analyzing the attributes of the U taxpayer population and those that potentially could be covered by a relatively comprehensive PAYE system, two broad questions arise The rst relates to the income types that can be collected via PAYE with a reasonable degree of accuracy and an acceptable amount of compliance burden The second inquiry concerns the deductions and credits that could be administered through the PAYE system Of course, the broader the income types and the more expansive the deductions and credits that are accommodated by a comprehensive PAYE system, the more taxpayers can be afforded the benet of accurate tax collection and potential return-free ling PAYE Can Be Expanded to Collect Tax From a Wide Range of Income Sources 117 Looking rst at the income side of the equation, 147 million tax returns were led for TY 2016 Sixty- two percent of those reported only income fully captured by seven line items on IRS Form 1040 118 Accordingly, a relatively large portion of the U taxpayer population earns the vast majority of its income from a limited number of income sources, thus making expanded tax collection via withholding at source potentially feasible The primary sources of income reported by taxpayers are shown in Figure 1 FIGURE 1.3, Income Sources 119 Income source Number of tax returns reporting this income item Percentage of all tax returns Number of nonitemizing returns reporting this income item Percentage of nonitemizing returns All 1040 series tax returns 146,700,000 100% 131,100,000 N/A Wage earners 121,400,000 83% 109,600,000 84% Interest 41,900,000 29% 32,300,000 25% Taxable pensions and annuities 27,400,000 19% 22,500,000 17% Dividends taxed at ordinary income rate 27,000,000 18% 20,200,000 15% Capital gains 23,800,000 16% 17,300,000 13% Taxable distributions from IRAs 14,100,000 10% 10,900,000 8% Unemployment 5,500,000 4% 5,100,000 4% 117 Unless otherwise noted, the numbers and percentages discussed herein are based on TAS Research analysis of IRS CDW, IRTF, TY 2016 returns. TY 2016 data is the most reliable and complete information currently available. Actual filing characteristics were recalculated to reflect changes due to tax reform, including the increased standard deduction, elimination of exemptions, and limitations to itemized deductions. Tax reform and its eventual impact in subsequent years will affect these numbers, but TAS Research has, to the best of its ability, attempted to adjust for these changes. 118 This percentage is based on all filers, not just nonitemizers. 119 These income types are based on an analysis of TY 2016, which is the most recent year for which complete data is ava

26 ilable. The column entitled, “Numb
ilable. The column entitled, “Number of tax returns reporting this income item,” represents the number of filings reporting income from the listed source. The column entitled, “Percentage of nonitemizing returns,” represents the percentage of nonitemizing returns ( i.e ., returns claiming the standard deduction instead) that report income from each of the ten sources. The column entitled, “Number of nonitemizing returns reporting this income item,” represents those returns as a percentage of total returns” indicates the number of nonitemizing returns reporting each income item. Finally, the column entitled, “Percentage of all tax returns,” represents those filings that report income from each of the ten sources as a percentage of total filings. TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 26 Simplied PAYE as currently applied in the U is primarily designed to collect taxes attributable to wage earnings In TY 2016, 45 percent of nonitemizing lings reported wage earnings subject to withholding as the sole source of income Thus, even simple PAYE allows for complete withholding of tax at source for these approximately 59 million lings 120 Although a PAYE group limited to taxpayers whose income is drawn solely from wages still yields signicant benets to both taxpayers and the IRS, the number of eligible participants in such a system would increase substantially if income from interest were not a limiting factor The IRS already requires issuance of a Form 1099-INT, Interest Income , reporting interest income earned by taxpayers Such income would readily lend itself to withholding at source, and would result in coverage of earnings reported by an additional ve percent of nonitemizing tax returns (six million) Large numbers of taxpayers also receive income in the form of pensions and annuities, primarily from nancial institutions or former employers These sources likewise are already the subject of information reporting on Form 1099-R, Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Prot- Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc. , and would represent the logical next step in extending the PAYE withholding regime Imposing withholding at source on these payments would result in income tax collection relating to an additional four percent of nonitemizing tax returns (ve million) This combination of coverage for wage, interest, and retirement earnings would provide complete PAYE income tax collection for approximately 71 million lings, which is nearly half of all individual income tax returns Similarly, corporations and nancial institutions provide information reporting regarding dividends (Form 1099-DIV, Dividends and Distributions If income from dividends were withheld at source, tax liabilities from another two percent of nonitemizing lings (two and a half million) could be completely collected Requiring withholding on all capital gains income would be impracticable because many of those transactions occur sporadically and between individuals Nevertheless, the IRS requires information reporting on Form 1099-B, Proceeds from Broker or Barter Exchange Transactions , with respect to capital gains and losses on transactions involving stocks and other commonly traded investments If income from these transactions were

27 rolled into a withholding regime, then
rolled into a withholding regime, then income reported on a further four percent of nonitemizing returns (ve and a half million) could be fully collected via withholding Additionally, as with pension and annuity income, income from IRA distributions is already the subject of information reporting on Form 1099-R Imposing withholding at source on these payments would result in income tax collection from amounts reected on a further six percent of nonitemizing tax returns (eight million) 120 IRS, IRTF, CDW, individual returns for TY 2016, data accessed Oct. 1, 2018. Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 27 Finally, taxpayers receiving government income in the form of unemployment benets (Form 1099-G, Certain Government Payments ) could also be included in a withholding regime Withholding on unemployment income would result in complete tax collection of liabilities associated with an additional three percent of nonitemizing lings (three and a half million) Figure 14 shows the incremental tax collection increases that could result from a PAYE regime imposed with respect to the income categories discussed above 121 FIGURE 1.4, Cumulative Buildup of PAYE Income Items 122 Income type(s) Number of nonitemizing tax returns Incremental addition Percentage of nonitemizing returns Percentage of all tax returns Wage only 59,300,000 59,300,000 45% 40% Wage and/or interest 65,600,000 +6,300,000 50% 45% Wage, interest, and/or pension 71,000,000 +5,300,000 54% 48% Wage, interest, pension, and/or dividends 73,400,000 +2,500,000 56% 50% Wage, interest, pension, dividends, and/or capital gains 78,900,000 +5,500,000 60% 54% Wage, interest, pension, dividends, capital gains, and/or IRA 87,100,000 +8,200,000 66% 59% Wage, interest, pension, dividends, capital gains, IRA, and/or unemployment 90,700,000 +3,600,000 69% 62% The simple PAYE system currently employed within the U generally collects sufcient amounts to satisfy the tax liabilities reported on 45 percent of nonitemizing returns and 40 percent of all tax returns Based on the income types set forth above, these percentages could increase to as high as 73 percent of nonitemizing returns and 65 percent of all returns as a PAYE system became more widespread and coverage of additional income sources incrementally expanded Achieving this breadth of coverage, however, would present challenges and would require several systemic adjustments, discussed below A Comprehensive PAYE System Can Be Created to the Extent That Deductions and Credits Can Also Be Factored Into the Ongoing Tax Collection Regime Additionally, for a comprehensive PAYE system to provide relatively accurate levels of withholding, that system must properly account for frequently occurring deductions and credits Such is particularly the case if the PAYE system is ever to form the basis of a return-free ling regime for substantial numbers of taxpayers The recently enacted tax legislation facilitates expanded PAYE coverage because it reduces the number of deductions likely to be claimed by taxpayers 123 The Tax Policy Center estimates that, under the new tax regime beginning with TY 2018, approximately 891 percent of U individual lers will forego itemizing deductions in favor of the increased standard deduction, up from 746 percent 121 Such an expanded PAYE regime regarding income items w

28 ould generally collect sufficient taxes
ould generally collect sufficient taxes to pay the associated liabilities. Nevertheless, substantial overcollections of tax likely would occur until, as discussed below, a PAYE system also incorporated major deduction items. 122 IRS, IRTF, CDW, individual returns for TY 2016, data accessed Oct. 1, 2018. 123 H.R. 1, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Pub. Law No. 115-97, 131 Stat. 2054 (Dec. 22, 2017). TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 28 under prior law 124 These simplied returns involve a limited number of widely claimed deductions and credits, and therefore lend themselves more readily to comprehensive PAYE coverage than was previously the case 125 These deductions and credits are set forth in Figure 1 FIGURE 1.5, Deductions, Credits, and Potential PAYE Coverage 126 Deduction/Credit Number of tax returns claiming this deduction or credit Percentage of all tax returns Number of nonitemizing returns reporting this income item Percentage of nonitemizing returns Standard deduction 131,100,000 89% 131,100,000 100% Earned Income Tax Credit 26,700,000 18% 26,500,000 20% Child Tax Credit 21,700,000 15% 20,500,000 16% Student loan interest deduction 12,200,000 8% 11,400,000 9% Child and Dependent Care Expenses credit 6,500,000 4% 5,500,000 4% IRA deduction 2,600,000 2% 2,200,00 2% Health Savings Account deduction 1,700,00 1% 1,300,00 1% Currently, simple PAYE only directly considers a few items including marital status, number of children, and dependent care expenses 127 Likewise, taxpayers have the capacity to set forth additional amounts they would like to have withheld However, to the extent that other frequently claimed deduction and credit items can be specically incorporated into a PAYE system, the more comprehensive and accurate that system can become 128 In turn, this accuracy allows for more precise tax collection, minimizes the number of refund claims, and expands the number of returns that can be incorporated into a return-free ling regime, if desired 124 Tax Policy Center, Table T18-0001, Impact on the Number of Itemizers of H.R. 1, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) By Filing Status and Expanded Cash Income Level, 2018 (Jan. 11, 2018), http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/model-estimates/impact- itemized-deductions-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-jan-2018/t18-0001-impact-number . TAS research projects a similar pattern in filing behavior. 125 A truly comprehensive PAYE system will require several more systemic changes, including a restructuring of the way in which refundable credits are administered. See The Ability to Administer Refundable Credits in Conjunction With the PAYE System Would Substantially Broaden Its Potential Scope , infra . 126 These non-itemized deductions and credits are based on an analysis of TY 2016, which is the most recent year for which complete data is available. The column entitled, “Number of tax returns claiming this deduction or credit,” represents those returns as a percentage of total returns,” represents the number of tax returns claiming the listed deduction or credit. The column entitled, “Percentage of all tax returns. The column entitled, “Number of nonitemizing returns claiming this deduction or credit,” represents the number of nonitemizing returns reporting the listed deduction or credit. Finally, the column entitled, “Percentage of nonit

29 emizing returns,” represents those
emizing returns,” represents those nonitemizing returns claiming a given deduction or credit as a percentage of nonitemizing taxpayers. 127 The current Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate , also provides taxpayers with detailed worksheets to more accurately calculate the appropriate withholding. Nevertheless, these worksheets are highly complex and require accurate projections of future circumstances. 128 In order for this expansion to be possible, a number of technical and cultural challenges would need to be successfully addressed and overcome. These are discussed in the following section. Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 29 If the above-considered income sources and credits and deductions could be incorporated into a comprehensive PAYE system, that regime would cover 51 percent of all tax returns (75 million) 129 More modestly, a PAYE system that collected only wage, interest, pension, and dividend income at source and reected the standard deduction would provide comprehensive coverage for 26 percent of all returns (38 million) 130 This coverage is illustrated by Figure 1 FIGURE 1.6 PAYE Eligibility: Potential Coverage ScenariosCompared to Total Filings in MillionsLimited PAYE systemComprehensive PAYE systemAll filers147 million 129 IRS, IRTF, CDW, individual returns for TY 2016, data accessed Oct. 1, 2018. 130 Id . TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 30 SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPREHENSIVE PAYE SYSTEM IS FEASIBLE, BUT REQUIRES THAT A NUMBER OF PROCEDURAL AND CULTURAL OBSTACLES BE ADDRESSED AND OVERCOME When Expanding PAYE, Some Systemic Features of the U.S. Tax Regime Could Be Utilized, But Many Would Need to Be Adjusted Information Reporting Mechanisms Already Exist With Respect to the Primary Income Types Adding incremental levels of withholding at source is denitely possible As illustrated above, 50 percent of all lings recognize income falling into some combination of only four categories (wage, interest, pension, and dividends) Moreover, all seven of the above-considered income types currently are subject to information reporting requirements Accordingly, the mechanisms have already been established for tracking, compiling, and reporting this income data Beyond this information reporting, the next step would involve imposing on payors, such as nancial institutions and government agencies, the same type of withholding and remittance requirements that currently apply to employers Expanded Withholding Requirements Would Impose Burdens on Impacted Withholding Agents Such an expansion would expose new withholding agents to signicant compliance costs and administrative burdens that should not be understated Many such payors presumably would oppose the imposition of such a regime, and care would need to be taken by the IRS to proceed as efciently and reasonably as possible In recent years, the National Taxpayer Advocate and third-party stakeholders have extensively analyzed the implementation problems surrounding the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) rollout, and the IRS should treat its FATCA challenges as a learning experience from which PAYE could benet Withholding agents should be supported and facilitated wherever possible Indeed, if a comprehensive PAYE system were deemed suf&

30 #31;ciently desirable to justify the bur
#31;ciently desirable to justify the burdens that would inevitably be placed on new withholding agents, then it would be appropriate to consider providing a tax credit to fully or partially cover the transition costs resulting from implementing the expanded system For example, the National Taxpayer Advocate previously suggested that Congress consider a one-time credit for the start-up and technology costs that would be incurred by brokers in implementing proposed information reporting on stock basis 131 The shift of compliance burdens from taxpayers to employers and other withholding agents when moving toward a real-time comprehensive PAYE system would neither be easy nor free from controversy However, with strategic and careful implementation, embracing third parties as partners, such a transition could be successful Coverage of Independent Contractors Within the PAYE System Would Represent a Signicant Step Along the Comprehensiveness Spectrum Particular support would be needed if withholding at source were ever fully or partially implemented with respect to the rapidly increasing self-employed population One measure of the growth occurring in this area can be seen by looking to the expansion of independent contractors, who are not subject to withholding at source 132 One study indicates that between 2005 and 2015, independent contractors expanded by 39 percent, from 69 percent of the employed population to 96 percent of the employed 131 National Taxpayer Advocate 2005 Annual Report to Congress 441. 132 Lawrence F. Katz and Alan B. Krueger, The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States 1995-2015 , BEAUCO. RESEACH (Mar. 29, 2016); IRS Pub. 505 (2017), Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax . Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 31 population 133 Further, the Federal Reserve System estimates that as many as a third of Americans earn supplemental income through independent work 134 Although the yardsticks for growth in this area sometimes differ, the signicance of part-time and full-time workers in the loosely-dened gig economy cannot be overstated 135 For TY 2016, 255 million taxpayers led returns reporting Schedule C income 136 Nine million of these returns showed a tax liability still owing to the IRS 137 Further, 174 million returns reported both W-2 and Schedule C income 138 Of these returns, 49 million reported a balance due to the IRS 139 The self-employed and independent contractors generally are required to make quarterly estimated tax payments, but currently have no way of opting in to voluntary withholding at source, even though such a mechanism has been recommended by the National Taxpayer Advocate with respect to independent contractors 140 In particular, this withholding at source would be especially effective in the case of large service coordinators in the sharing economy, such as Uber or Lyft, who rely on independent contractors The point at which payors should be deemed too small to make such an option, or even a requirement, administratively tenable, however, is an important issue and should be one of the topics considered in the more in-depth collaborative follow-on study recommended below Nevertheless, Australia currently includes many independent contractors in its PAYE system using the ’s general approach, so such coverage is achievable 141

31 Moreover, the National Taxpayer Advocat
Moreover, the National Taxpayer Advocate, the Aspen Institute, and commentators have proposed that payors involved in a trade or business making payments of sufcient size generally be required to withhold from their workers based on a default rate 142 Given the benets that this withholding would confer on independent contractors and the self-employed, the assistance it would provide to tax administration, and the extent to which it would expand PAYE coverage, such a step merits careful consideration 133 Lawrence F. Katz and Alan B. Krueger, The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States 1995-2015 , BEAUCO. RESEACH (Mar. 29, 2016), Table 2. 134 Jeff Larrimore, Alex Durante, Kimberly Kreiss, Christina Park, and Claudia Sahm, Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households , Board of Governors of the Fed. Reserve Sys. 19 (May 2018) https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/ files/2017-report-economicwell-being-us-households-201805.pdf . See also Alastair Fitzpayne, Shelly Steward, Ethan Pollack, Tax Simplification for Independent Workers , The Aspen Inst. (Sept. 2018). 135 Improving Tax Administration Today: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Taxation and IRS Oversight of the S. Comm. on Finance , 115th Cong. (Jul. 24, 2018) (statement of Caroline Bruckner, Executive-in-Residence, Accounting and Taxation; Managing Director, Kogod Tax Policy Center, Kogod School of Business, American University). 136 IRS, IRTF, CDW, individual returns for TY 2016, data accessed Oct. 16, 2018. 137 Id . 138 Id . 139 Id . 140 Improving Tax Administration Today: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Taxation and IRS Oversight of the S. Comm. on Finance , 115th Cong. (July 26, 2018) (statement of Nina E. Olson, National Taxpayer Advocate); National Taxpayer Advocate 2017 Annual Report to Congress 329-331; National Taxpayer Advocate 2017 Annual Report to Congress vol. 3, 81-82; National Taxpayer Advocate 2017 Annual Report to Congress 165-171. 141 ATO, Labour-Hire Firms and their Workers (Apr. 5, 2017) https://www.ato.gov.au/business/payg-withholding/payments-you- need-to-withhold-from/labour-hire-firms-and-their-workers/ . In Australia, labour-hire firms ( e.g ., Uber) are required to withhold on workers in the same way as other employers by referencing withholding tables or a calculator made available by ATO. However, independent contractors who themselves engage subcontractors to assist them in the process of performing work generally are not required to withhold. 142 National Taxpayer Advocate 2003 Annual Report to Congress 256-269; Alastair Fitzpayne, Shelly Steward, Ethan Pollack, Tax Simplification for Independent Workers , The Aspen Inst. (Sept. 2018); Kathleen DeLaney Thomas, Taxing the Gig Economy , 166 NNAW REV . 1416, 1445-1447, https://ssrn.com/abstract=2894394 . TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 32 The Ability to Administer Refundable Credits in Conjunction With the PAYE System Would Substantially Broaden Its Potential Scope Certain refundable credits, such as the EITC and the CTC, present particular difculties when it comes to inclusion within a PAYE system Such is the case because some of these credits are subject to incremental qualication throughout the course of the year For example, eligibility for the EITC can only be determined six months into the tax year at the ea

32 rliest 143 Moreover, taxpayers are onl
rliest 143 Moreover, taxpayers are only eligible for the credit if they are not claimed as dependents or qualifying children on another return 144 The family unit also plays a large role in qualication for many refundable credits In the case of the CTC, taxpayers do not become eligible until a child resides with them for over six months out of the year 145 Given that 22 million tax returns claim the CTC each year, while 27 million tax returns claim the EITC, the breadth of PAYE could be expanded considerably if it could accommodate these credits One approach might be to apply a modied system in which these credits were conferred via PAYE once threshold qualication was attained during the year The result would be a large reduction in withholding until year end to achieve the “true up,” as is undertaken in the nal month of the tax year under a nal withholding system 146 Nevertheless, this approach would be complicated to apply, would require taxpayers to be assiduous in notifying the IRS regarding changes in personal circumstance, and could result in signicant under-withholding that had to be recaptured in the event qualication proved to be illusory A somewhat similar strategy previously attempted in the U would be to presume current year eligibility for the credit based on prior year qualication This would have the benet of allowing incorporation of the credits into the PAYE system throughout the course of the tax year Nevertheless, it likewise poses a heightened danger that taxpayers presumed to qualify for a refundable credit could later prove to be ineligible, thus requiring recalculation of tax liability at year end and recapture of benets that taxpayers may well have already spent This theoretical problem was experienced in practice by the U when it relied upon prior year qualication to administer the Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit Because of difculties arising out of presumptive qualication based on family status and the complications resulting from year-end redeterminations and subsequent recaptures, the U eventually abandoned this attempt 147 Instead, in 2013, it adopted a different approach, which provides an alternative model for administering benets without removing recipients from the pool of taxpayers potentially qualifying for PAYE 148 It implemented the Universal Credit as a comprehensive benet program to replace a variety of individual support payments and tax credits, including the Working Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit 149 The Universal Credit was a direct response aimed at addressing complexities and remedying difculties encountered by the U in administering benets programs through the tax system, which, 143 IRC § 32(c)(1); IRC § 152(c)(1). 144 IRC § 32(c)(1)(A)(ii)(III). 145 IRC § (c)(1)(B). 146 See Final Withholding Relies on Reconciling Adjustments Made to Year End Paychecks , supra . 147 Michael Godwin and Colin Lawson, The Life and Death of the Child Tax Credit and the Working Tax Credit , COICS KIAPE . 1/12 14 (2012). 148 Id . 149 United Kingdom Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit Announced (Oct. 5, 2010) https://www.gov.uk/ government/news/universal-credit-introduced ; Universal Credit: What Is It? https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit (last visited Aug. 6, 2018). Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 A

33 nnual Report to Congress — Volume
nnual Report to Congress — Volume Two 33 among other things, required reference to the family unit 150 The Universal Credit is now administered by the Department for Work and Pensions and is provided via direct payments determined with reference to income information compiled by HMRC Signicant cultural changes would need to occur in the U before a similar system could be successfully implemented 151 Among other things, people would need to be more comfortable with benet payments being made directly to recipients, rather than channeled through the tax system, which somewhat obscures their basic nature Moreover, taxpayers may need to accept increased information sharing regarding their private information among government agencies The question of if and when such cultural shifts could occur is an open question To the extent that taxpayers would accept these necessary changes, however, the scope of PAYE could be substantially increased by incorporating refundable credits such as the EITC and CTC Real-Time Reporting Is an Essential Aspect of Any Comprehensive PAYE System As previously discussed, a comprehensive PAYE system that achieved the goal of collecting the accurate amount of tax liability during the year must also factor in deductions and credits, and must do so on a real-time basis Such is the case because real-time adjustments to reect deductions and credits covered within the PAYE system, as well as to accurately account for income types incorporated into the regime, are an indispensable means of preventing either substantial underreporting or overreporting of income throughout the course of the year This real-time reporting can be accomplished in a variety of ways For example, taxpayers could report tax information directly to employers, as is currently the case in limited contexts with simple PAYE Something closer in concept to a real-time comprehensive PAYE system could be achieved by expanding the extent of information collected by withholding agents and increasing the frequency with which relevant tax data is provided to these withholding agents by taxpayers For example, some helpful steps in this direction were incorporated into the recent tax reform legislation put forward by the House of Representatives 152 That legislation would have required employers to report to the IRS the name, address, Social Security number, and wages for each employee on Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return Most states already require employers to submit employee wage information to state unemployment commissions on a quarterly basis 153 Although this provision was not ultimately enacted, it would have represented a substantial advance toward real-time reporting of employment-related income 154 Likewise, the National Taxpayer Advocate has recommended that Congress consider requiring employers ling more than ve Forms W-2, 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income , and 941 to le electronically and provide a breakdown by employee of the amounts reported on Form 941 155 150 United Kingdom Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit Announced (Oct. 5, 2010) https://www.gov.uk/ government/news/universal-credit-introduced . 151 For an expanded discussion of taxpayer culture and its impact on PAYE, see Equally Important As the Technical Ability to Implement PAYE Is Taxpayers’ Willingness to Accept It , infra . 152 . R

34 EP. N . 115-409 (2017); . REP. N . 115-
EP. N . 115-409 (2017); . REP. N . 115-466 (2017) (Conf. Rep.). 153 See , e.g ., Louisiana Workforce Commission, Department of Labor, Wage & Tax Reporting Services (July 6, 2017) http://www.laworks.net/UnemploymentInsurance/UI_WageTaxReportingOverview.asp ; Texas Workforce Commission, Employer’s Quarterly Wage Report Filing Options (Nov. 29, 2016) http://www.twc.state.tx.us/businesses/employers-quarterly- wage-report-filing-options . 154 .R. REP. N . 115-466, at 6 (2017) (Conf. Rep). 155 National Taxpayer Advocate 2017 Annual Report to Congress vol. 3, 21-23. TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 34 Use of a PAYE Code Facilitates the Efciency of PAYE Regimes A related concept that would increase administrative efciency, reduce compliance costs by employers, protect taxpayer privacy, and minimize identity theft risk would be to use an approach adopted in various countries, such as the U and New Zealand This strategy is premised on the calculation and distribution of a PAYE code Although specic practices differ from country to country, generally the taxing authority is responsible for gathering real-time tax data to which it has access 156 In turn, taxpayers are charged with providing timely information regarding any alterations in their tax positions, such as changes in marital status or residence The tax authority then issues individuals with a PAYE code that they furnish to their various withholding agents This code indicates a withholding rate allowing those withholding agents to collect the proper amount of taxes to satisfy the liability calculated by the tax authority As a middle ground, if providing PAYE code adjustments to multiple withholding agents proved unduly complex, PAYE codes could be furnished solely to employers, such as occurs in New Zealand 157 This limitation would minimize the burden on other parties, but may also reduce the number of taxpayers receiving exact withholding, thereby increasing the number of taxpayers who would need to rely on their year-end tax returns to obtain refunds or pay additional income tax Nevertheless, even these taxpayers would indirectly benet, as under a real-time comprehensive PAYE system, the IRS would already be receiving information in real time about those other sources of income, which could be used to provide taxpayers with real-time data for preparing their own tax returns, or could be utilized in the development of some type of auto-ll regime The use of a PAYE code, regardless of the particular circumstances in which it is adopted, has a variety of benets, including efciency and the ability for taxpayers to retain privacy from their withholding agents, such as employers, with respect to certain information As in New Zealand, taxpayers also could be furnished with the option of simply having a at rate of withholding applied (45 percent in New Zealand) in lieu of participation in the PAYE system 158 The items included in a PAYE code, the mechanics of its operation, and the withholding agents who would utilize it would need to be a part of the follow-on collaborative study we recommend below Equally Important as the Technical Ability to Implement PAYE Is Taxpayers’ Willingness to Accept It Taxpayers May Find the Expanded Responsibility of the IRS Under a PAYE System to Be Disconcerting Not only will an expand

35 ed PAYE system require signicant sy
ed PAYE system require signicant systemic changes, but its ultimate scope will be determined by the prevailing tax culture and the relationship that U taxpayers have with their government For example, taxpayers could be troubled by the perceived loss of transparency and control resulting from the comprehensive collection of taxes directly by the IRS, from withholding agents, in conjunction with a return-free ling system 159 These concerns likely could be constructively 156 As mentioned above, the IRS would have invaluable information it could use in the calculation of PAYE codes if employers were legally required to provide taxpayer-specific Form 941 information. 157 For a more in-depth discussion regarding the mechanics of the PAYE code system utilized in New Zealand, see Several Tax Authorities Have Taken Steps to Employ Various Types of PAYE , supra . 158 IBFD, New Zealand – Country Analysis 1. Individual Income Tax (Oct. 1, 2017) 1.10.3.1, Employment Income. 159 Richard Dyson, Digital Tax: ‘HMRC Wants a Direct Link to Everyone’s Bank Accounts’ ELEGAPH (Jan. 31, 2016), http://www. telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/tax/12128902/Digital-tax-HMRC-wants-a-direct-link-to-everyones-bank-accounts. html . Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 35 addressed in a variety of ways, including by allowing taxpayers online access to their own IRS accounts and by providing a taxpayer-friendly means of questioning and, if need be, challenging IRS actions undertaken in a PAYE environment 160 These mechanisms would need to be developed and effectively communicated to taxpayers, which would require a serious commitment of resources and focus from the IRS 161 In order for a comprehensive PAYE system to succeed, condence in its discretion, competence, and fairness must be established early on 162 Sharing Additional Personal Information With Employers Could Raise Signicant Privacy Concerns An expanded PAYE system would, of necessity, involve a much larger role on the part of employers In turn, this increased prole raises privacy issues, as some employees may object to providing their employers with additional personal information For example, employees may be reluctant for their full- time employers to become aware that they are earning income from part-time work on the side The current controversy regarding the expanded Form W-4 provides an excellent case in point To help implement accurate withholding after passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the IRS issued a new Form W-4 that, to the extent completed, would furnish employers with signicantly more information than in the past This additional reporting not only increased the complexity of the form, but sparked privacy worries As explained by the American Institute of Certied Public Accountants (AICPA), “Many employees are likely apprehensive that providing employers with spousal and family income information on the Form W-4 can lead to unfair and discriminatory employment practices For example, employees may have concerns that an employer will forego a wage increase if the employer has knowledge of other family income 163 One means of addressing these legitimate concerns would be through the use of a system in which the employer was provided with a PAYE code 164 This approach would have the virtue of allowing taxpayers to r

36 etain their privacy from employers Inde
etain their privacy from employers Indeed, employers’ transparency into employees’ personal circumstances would be less than was the case prior to tax reform On the other hand, depending upon the method adopted for determining the PAYE code, taxpayers might be required to provide this additional personal information to the IRS, which some may well nd objectionable Taxpayers Are Often Unwilling or Unable to Interact With the IRS on an Ongoing Basis A broadly applicable PAYE system would require taxpayers to be comfortable interacting more frequently with the IRS, or at least with tools developed by the IRS This willingness would require a cultural shift on the part of U taxpayers, in which they viewed the IRS as a neutral and trustworthy 160 To do so successfully, however, the digital divide existing within the U.S. and the difficulties in communicating with the IRS would need to be acknowledged and remedied. See Most Serious Problem: Navigating the IRS: Taxpayers Have Difficulty Navigating the IRS, Reaching the Right Personnel to Resolve Their Tax Issues, and Holding IRS Employees Accountable , supra ; National Taxpayer Advocate 2017 Annual Report to Congress 22-35. 161 National Taxpayer Advocate 2016 Annual Report to Congress 121-137; National Taxpayer Advocate 2015 Annual Report to Congress 56-63. 162 In the recent 2017 Comprehensive Taxpayer Attitude Survey, 68 percent of taxpayers reported that they had confidence in the IRS to fairly enforce the tax laws as enacted by Congress and the President. PCG, Comprehensive Taxpayer Attitude Survey (CTAS) 2017 16 (Nov. 16, 2017). In order for PAYE to be embraced, however, taxpayers would need to have at least equal confidence in the willingness and ability of the IRS to provide high quality service to support and develop the expanding PAYE program. 163 Letter from American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to the IRS (July 12, 2018). 164 For a more in-depth discussion of the mechanics of a PAYE code, see Use of a PAYE Code Facilitates the Efficiency of PAYE Regimes , supra . TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 36 partner in the information reporting and tax collection process In order for this change in perception to occur, though, the IRS likewise will need to progress from its current enforcement-oriented outlook to one that emphasizes taxpayer service and support The National Taxpayer Advocate has long urged this shift in orientation on the part of the IRS 165 In order for PAYE to ourish, a new norm will need to be established Taxpayers must be willing and able to interact with, and provide information to, the IRS when appropriate One way of encouraging this engagement is to minimize the actual information owing directly to the taxing authority, such as in the case of the New Zealand PAYE code questionnaire, which generates a code without retaining taxpayer data 166 Ultimately, PAYE can only work if the responsible recordkeeper, be it the IRS or the employer, is informed of taxpayers’ changes in circumstance The U has some recent experience on which to draw regarding requirements that people notify the government about changes in their life situations Specically, calculation of the Advanced Premium Tax Credit under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is premised on just such communication 167 Whenever would-be recipi

37 ents have a change in circumstance, they
ents have a change in circumstance, they are required to update the health insurance exchange so that adjustments can be made So far, this system has encountered considerable growing pains, some the result of start-up issues, some attributable to the reluctance or inability of people to provide this information as part of their daily lives 168 Just as with the ACA, PAYE will require a change in culture if it is to expand and ourish Tax Refunds, Which Would Be Minimized by PAYE, Are Highly Valued by Many Taxpayers and Impact Local and National Economies As another issue, some taxpayers may rely on their annual tax refunds as a form of automatic savings and may count on these refunds to offset larger future expenditures 169 Moreover, whole parts of the economy look forward to, and revolve around, the refund jolt occurring in the spring of each year 170 The same is true of states relying on the collection of sales tax, which increases as taxpayers use their annual refunds to make large purchases Indeed, the EITC was, in part, passed as a temporary measure designed to stimulate the economy in 1975 171 The Brookings Institution suggests that the larger economic benets from the EITC could be increased even further if it were provided to taxpayers on a periodic basis 172 Instead, its positive impact on taxpayers and the economy was deferred when, as a fraud reduction measure, issuance of the EITC was delayed until February 15 of each year 173 165 See , e.g ., National Taxpayer Advocate 2016 Annual Report to Congress 221. 166 See Several Tax Authorities Have Taken Steps to Employ Various Types of PAYE , supra . 167 See Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009, Pub. L. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (Mar. 2010), as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-152, 124 Stat. 1029 (Mar. 30, 2010). 168 Kira Brecht, Recipients of Obamacare Subsidies Could Face Tax Surprise , . NEWS & REPORT (Feb. 10, 2015) https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2015/02/10/recipients-of-obamacare-subsidies-could-face- tax-surprise . 169 TAS is unaware of any data distinguishing the number of refunds attributable to a savings motive versus refunds attributable to uncertainty or other factors. 170 Natalie Holmes and Alan Berube, The Earned Income Tax Credit and Community Economic Stability , Brookings Institution (Nov. 20, 2015) https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-earned-income-tax-credit-and-community-economic-stability/ . 171 Id . 172 Id . 173 Tribune news services, IRS to Delay Refunds for Millions of Low-Income Families , HICAGO T (Jan. 11, 2017) http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-tax-refund-delays-20170111-story.html . Taxpayer Advocate Service — 2018 Annual Report to Congress — Volume Two 37 Ultimately, however, the economic impact of refunds is temporal, not permanent Refunds simply provide an individual or an economy with a single lump-sum payment after year end By contrast, a comprehensive PAYE system injects the same amount of money into the individual’s pocket or the government’s coffers ratably over an earlier time period Thus, the money is always the taxpayer’s for spending or saving, the only question is when The model of savings culminating in an annual refund is not economically optimal, as it represents an interest-free loan to the IRS While some taxp

38 ayers may resist participation in a comp
ayers may resist participation in a comprehensive PAYE system because of their reliance on annual refunds for budgeting purposes, others may appreciate the benets of retaining control over their own funds without the need to await a deferred refund payment One means of addressing these differing perspectives might be to follow the New Zealand model and impose a relatively high at withholding rate, in the event that taxpayers opt out of participation in a real-time PAYE system This approach would give taxpayers the choice regarding the timing of when they receive their tax benet: ratably during the year in the form of reduced withholding, or in a lump sum refund after year end CONCLUSION A wide range of factors, including taxpayer acceptance, withholding agent compliance costs, and a willingness to make some systemic changes in tax administration, must be taken into account in determining whether and to what extent a real-time comprehensive PAYE system would be desirable and achievable Most commentators agree that such a system would produce substantial benets, including minimized taxpayer cost, increased accuracy and compliance, greater certainty, and easier collection 174 However, whether these benets justify the resulting shift in burdens and reallocation of resources remains an open question At a minimum, such a system, if properly conceived and implemented, would simplify tax compliance for many taxpayers and would allow for easy interaction with an IRS- hosted data platform to facilitate transparency Although the National Taxpayer Advocate is not, at this time, recommending a particular PAYE system, or even that the current approach to PAYE in the U be expanded, any mechanism that has the potential for enhancing the quality of tax administration is always worth examining in detail 174 William J. Turnier, PAYE as an Alternative to an Alternative Tax System , 23 . TAX REV . 205, 264 (Summer 2003); Deborah A. Geier, Fundamental Tax Reform: Incremental Versus Fundamental Tax Reform and the Top One Percent , 56 . REV . 99, 167-168 (Winter 2003); Department of the Treasury, Report to the Congress on Return-Free Tax Systems: Tax Simplification is a Prerequisite 35 (Dec. 2003). TAS RESEARCH AND RELATED STUDIES — A Conceptual Analysis of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) 38 RECOMMENDATIONS The National Taxpayer Advocate recommends that the IRS and Treasury collaborate with TAS to: . Study the feasibility of, and options for, establishing a real-time comprehensive PAYE system The study should focus rst on applying such a system to income attributable to wages, interest, pensions, and dividends, and the standard deduction, which would cover approximately 26 percent of tax returns, and should consider the incremental costs and benets of adding each category to a real-time comprehensive PAYE system The study should then analyze such an expansion as it would apply to all 14 income, deduction, and credit categories discussed above, which would cover 51 percent of tax returns 2. Conduct a public opinion survey examining the receptivity of potentially impacted taxpayers to a real-time comprehensive PAYE system, the changes in behavior it would require, and the results it would generate OIC Study Liens and Letters Improving Notices IRS Audits Understatement Penalty ALEs PAYE ALEs PAYE Understatement Penalty OIC Study Liens and Letters Impro